A Paris-based studio CUT architectures recently has completed the Café Coutume. Coutume is a new coffee roastery in Paris offering a cut edge selection of pure origin roasted coffees.

CUT architectures designed the first Coutume café in the centre of Paris combining a roastery and a café offering the best coffees in Paris and a neat selection of fresh and organic food and delicacies.

Café Coutume, image courtesy CUT architectures

In the spirit of speciality coffee, the experts at Coutume give the opportunity to rediscover the coffee culture with high end tools and machines.

The blend of tradition, alchemy and technique inspired CUT architectures design. Tearing down the walls and ceilings brought back a typical Parisian interior with high ceilings, mouldings, columns and an old shop door. A new oak flooring adds up to the Parisian atmosphere.

Café Coutume, image courtesy CUT architectures

CUT architectures set in this decor a laboratory of coffee using square white tiles, grid lighting, stainless steel, industrial plastic curtains, laboratory glassware.

Café Coutume, image courtesy CUT architectures

Café Coutume, image courtesy CUT architectures

The plain oak tables were designed for Coutume as the fusion of this Parisian interior and the laboratory. Coutume café’s design has been selected along wih Rem Koolhaas le Dauphin and Patrick Bouchain’s la Grenouillère by the restaurant critics of lefooding.com

Café Coutume - Layout plan, drawing courtesy CUT architectures

Café Coutume - Elevation, drawing courtesy CUT architectures

+ Project credits / data

Project: Café Coutume
Architect: CUT architectures
Location: Paris, France
Type: Interior

+ All images and drawings courtesy CUT architectures

The programme of requirements includes a terminal building, a control tower, and two spaces for storages. Given their size, none of these elements were obvious candidates to represent a new airport. The strategy pursued therefore seeked to link the three programmes by means of a common visual element that avoids the impression that a strange object has landed in the fields of Lleida while also defining a recognisable landmark.

Lleida-Alguaire Airport, image courtesy b720 Fermín Vázquez Arquitectos | Photo by Adrià Goula

A large envelope element covers the building like a blanket, drawing together its various functions and structures. This surface folds out on either side of the control tower, tracing a marked curve that is the most distinctive feature of the design.

Lleida-Alguaire Airport, image courtesy b720 Fermín Vázquez Arquitectos | Photo by Adrià Goula

Visual unit

The patchwork of finishes (plant-based, timber, and lacquered micro-perforated steel sheet) offers a mix of textures and tones, echoing the character of the surrounding agricultural landscape and linking the airport to the territory where it is sited. A COR-TEN steel plate edge spans the thickness of the roof, structure, and false ceiling layers, clearly defining a thick plane that overhangs the façades.

Lleida-Alguaire Airport, image courtesy b720 Fermín Vázquez Arquitectos | Photo by Adrià Goula

Lleida-Alguaire Airport, image courtesy b720 Fermín Vázquez Arquitectos | Photo by Adrià Goula

Terminal passenger

A floor-to-ceiling glass curtain wall delimits the passenger area. Thanks to a system that supports the curtain wall from above, terminal users have an unobstructed view at eye level. The deep overhang of the roof and efficient solar control glass provide optimal solar protection without the need for any additional elements. On the other hand, two opaque technical blocks, understood as compact volumes covered by the higher order of the roof, house areas that need to be separated from the open spaces.

Lleida-Alguaire Airport, image courtesy b720 Fermín Vázquez Arquitectos | Photo by Adrià Goula

Control tower

The control tower, a 42 meters high building, is designed as a singular work that goes beyond the structure, encompassing and integrating architecturally the projects of the terminal and the outbuildings. The tower is linked to the other bodies by the folding of the roof, which creates a double translucent skin that homogenises and protects interior openings. The fanal of the control tower – whose geometry and materials cannot be varied – is treated as one more technical element of the complex. The fact that the architecture of the tower responds effectively to aeronautical, territorial and landscape requirements sets the Alguaire Airport apart from most buildings of this type.

Lleida-Alguaire Airport, image courtesy b720 Fermín Vázquez Arquitectos | Photo by Adrià Goula

Environmental features

The large roof structure that distinguishes the building is also its main environmental feature. The various finishes provide thermal inertia and ventilation in response to solar radiation; reinforced thermal insulation minimises energy loss through the most sensitive plane of the building; areas of vegetation provide a degree of continuity in terms of the building's footprint in the landscape; and the cantilever of the roof protects the interior from direct exposure to the sun’s rays.

Lleida-Alguaire Airport - Floor plan, drawing courtesy b720 Fermín Vázquez Arquitectos

Lleida-Alguaire Airport - South elevation, drawing courtesy b720 Fermín Vázquez Arquitectos

+ Project credits / data

Project: Lleida-Alguaire Airport
Location: Alguaire, Lleida, Spain
Gross floor area: 4.942 m2 (Terminal building: 1,412 m2 / Control tower: 2,890 m2 / Storages: 640 m2)
Competition phase: June – September 2007
Construction phase: February 2008 – January 2010
Type: Transportation

Architect: b720 Fermín Vázquez Arquitectos | http://b720.com/
b720 team: Fermín Vázquez, Peco Mulet, Mónica Xampeny, Zelia Alves, Daniel Valdés, Iván Arellano, Gemma Ojea, Magdalena Ostornol, Egbert Oosterhoof, Sandra Palou, Jaime Luaces, Alessandro Zanchetta, Ángel Gaspar (models), Oriol Roig (3D)

Aeronautical engineering: Aertec
Client: Generalitat de Catalunya / GISA
Developer company: Aeroports de Catalunya, PTOP
General contractor: UTE Alguaire (Dragados / Obrum)
Project Manager: PFM
Structural and mechanical engineers: Aertec
Photographer: Adrià Goula

+ All images and drawings courtesy b720 Fermín Vázquez Arquitectos | Photo by Adrià Goula

Last week, Lamp Lighting Awards 2011 for ARCHITECTURAL EXTERIOR LIGHTING has been awarded to Gran Casino Costa Brava. (Please click here to the award page)

the use of light as a projective tool, another element of architecture both in its natural and artificial angle that is effectively integrated in the structure itself and generates threedimensionality and dynamism.

Judges of LAMP LIGHTING SOLUTIONS 11 AWARDS

The Gran Casino Costa Brava, located in the historic gardens of the Gran Hotel Monterrey in the centre of Lloret de Mar (Girona), is based on a distinctive environmental and architectural project by b720 Arquitectos, headed by Fermín Vázquez. At once practical and singular, the design of the new casino breaks with convention by approaching the complex as a unified structure that rises out of the ground. The building is divided into three clearly differentiated levels that are integrated in the surrounding environment.

Gran Casino Costa Brava, image courtesy b720 Fermín Vázquez Arquitectos | Photo by Adrià Goula

The structure breaks through to the surface as a continuation of the gardens of Hotel Monterrey, which extend between the Tossa de Mar road and the hotel access road. By virtue of its configuration (largely buried beneath the ground), the casino forms an integral part of the hotel garden. At the same time, it succeeds in revitalising the south face of the Monterrey complex and enriches the urban perimeter by providing a broad zone for recreational use and services. The building thus presents a striking face to the public thoroughfare while remaining hidden – transformed into an element of the topography – from the vantage point of the hotel garden.

Gran Casino Costa Brava, image courtesy b720 Fermín Vázquez Arquitectos | Photo by Adrià Goula

The way the casino emerges from beneath its green mantle and opens up to the city reflects the distinct nature of the two sides of the site (private and public) and addresses the difference in elevation between the public thoroughfare and the hotel gardens (which had to be conserved).

As an extension of the existing exterior space, the landscaped roof mitigates the visual impact of the architectural complex as well as shielding the hotel from noise pollution from the road.

Gran Casino Costa Brava, image courtesy b720 Fermín Vázquez Arquitectos | Photo by Adrià Goula

Functional programme

When a major recreational facility like a casino is built, a range of services and complementary uses – including the restaurant, kitchens, car park, conference room, and slot machine area – need to be accommodated and distributed within a single building. Excellent accessibility is crucial, a large parking area must be provided, and an optimal relationship of dialogue with the immediate urban environment needs to be established. In addition to meeting these requirements, the design is based on a unitary, avant-garde image intended to convey the dynamism and emblematic character of the Gran Casino Costa Brava.

Gran Casino Costa Brava - Sections, drawing courtesy b720 Fermín Vázquez Arquitectos

The building has three clearly differentiated levels. The casino is distributed in a number of areas within the main space on the ground floor. This floor includes the slot machine area, gaming room, nightclub, exhibition space, VIP spaces, restaurant, services (kitchens, storerooms, cloakroom, etc), and administration and security areas. The first floor houses a multifunctional space (auditorium, conference centre, municipal uses, etc) that seats a thousand people. A large foyer that opens to the exterior, service areas and the casino's management offices are also on this level. Finally, the rooftop, which is for private hotel and casino use, extends the landscaped space by means of a green mantle planted with local species of low-maintenance shrubs and trees. Three below-ground floors are used mainly for parking (450 spaces), and for installations and subsidiary casino spaces (located on the first basement floor).

Gran Casino Costa Brava, image courtesy b720 Fermín Vázquez Arquitectos | Photo by Adrià Goula

Façades and topographic mimicry

The inclined planes of the façades are made of integrally coloured reinforced concrete formed using tongue-and-groove pine boards. The floor that houses the multipurpose space is delimited by a series of broken concrete planes that evoke the tectonic movement of the ground from which they rise.

Gran Casino Costa Brava, image courtesy b720 Fermín Vázquez Arquitectos | Photo by Adrià Goula

The planes open onto a lattice structure that borders the foyer space, through a façade that confers a singular identity on the casino thanks to a system of digital lighting that extends toward the marquee. This multimedia illumination, which can reproduce moving images, comprises LED lights controlled by a centralised system and specific software that creates special light effects according to the activities taking place in the casino. This floor is also linked to the hotel gardens by an opening in the landscaped roof, a feature that facilitates the staging of outdoor events.

Gran Casino Costa Brava, image courtesy b720 Fermín Vázquez Arquitectos | Photo by Adrià Goula

Interior design

The interior design is defined by a number of strata with distinct decorative values. The floor is a continuous surface of low-pile carpeting in different colours to match the activity carried out in each area. This plane is surrounded by a background (reaching to a height of 2.1 m) covered in different fabrics with vertical  and of bronze bevelled mirrors, black glass, bronze, and terrazzo in black and sand tones. This stratum is generally bathed in light projected from above to highlight its decorative value and create the right atmosphere in each area. Above this level there is a more neutral horizontal band with large backlights that clearly demarcate the dining area and the nightclub space. Finally, hanging lighting in the gaming room makes a striking visual impact. Diffuse golden light emanates from a criss-cross structure that is the crowning decorative feature of this space.

Gran Casino Costa Brava - Level 1 floor plan, drawing courtesy b720 Fermín Vázquez Arquitectos

Gran Casino Costa Brava - Level 2 floor plan, drawing courtesy b720 Fermín Vázquez Arquitectos

+ Project credits / data

Project: Gran Casino Costa Brava
Location: Av. de la Vila de Tossa 27-43. Lloret de Mar, Spain
Gross floor area: 31.123,38 m2 (14.830 m2 bgl and 16.293,38 m2 agl)
Casino gross floor area: 3.660 m2
Hall gross floor area: 3.478 m2

Competition phase: October 2006
Project: October 2006 – December 2009
Execution: January 2007 – July 2010

Architect: b720 Fermín Vázquez Arquitectos
b720 Arquitectos team:
Competition: Fermín Vázquez, Sebastián Khourian, Juan Pablo Porta, Markus Jacoby, Paulo Moreira
Project: Fermín Vázquez, Peco Mulet, Sebastián Khourian, Juan Pablo Porta, Andrés Gorini, Nicolás Perfumo, Leonardo Novelo, Giusy Ottonelly, Valeria Merola, Ana Vicente-Arche, Paulo Moreira, Zelia Costa Alvés, Carles Martínez-Almoyna, Laura Marticorena
Interior Design: David Pablo, Zelia Costa Alvés, Gaëlle Lauxerrois, Anaïs Blanc, Sandra Palou, Diana Singla
3D Images: Oriol Roig, Magdalena Ostornol, Iván Arellano
Models: Miquel Lluch, Omar Vejar and Ángel Gaspar
Visual Design: Alessandro Zanchetta

Client: Gran Casino Costa Brava, S.L.
Building contractor: Proinosa
Structural engineers: BOMA
Services engineers: JG Asociados
Quantity surveyor: Tècnics G3
Lighting engineer: Artec3
Landscape architect: Arquitectura Agronomía
Pictures: Adrià Goula

Award: Lamp Lighting Awards 2011

+ All images and drawings courtesy b720 Fermín Vázquez Arquitectos | Photo by Adrià Goula