Designed by UK-based Mansfield Monk architecture and design, the project in question covered 16,000 sq ft in Gracechurch Street, London for the office interior of Aegis, the utility and energy mutual insurance company.

The design reflected the company’s new branding and identity with striking finishes. The scheme, including a large reception, meeting room suite and both open plan and cellular working areas, is designed to accommodate the company’s projected growth needs.

+ Designer: Mansfield Monk architecture and design

Image courtesy Mansfield Monk

Image courtesy Mansfield Monk

Image courtesy Mansfield Monk

Image courtesy Mansfield Monk

Image courtesy Mansfield Monk

Image courtesy Mansfield Monk

In 2001, Stephanie Forsythe + Todd MacAllen of molo were shortlisted for an international architectural competition for the city of Aomori. Their first trip to Japan took them to Tokyo University to present models and drawings to Tadao Ando, Jean Nouvel and city officials.

The Nebuta House, image courtesy molo | Photo by Iwan Baan

The Nebuta House, image courtesy molo | Photo by Shigeo Ogawa

In Japan, we've been given intimate experiences of true design: a rare but natural combination of delight, function and beauty. Japanese culture has reinforced our way of working – observational learning, a continual refining of process and the idea that there is strength and beauty in things that seem fragile and ephemeral.

Stephanie Forsythe + Todd MacAllen of molo

Through travels to Northern Japan, Stephanie and Todd came to know Aomori City’s “Nebuta Festival”. This festival is one of the largest in Japan, attracting over 3 million people each year to a city of 300,000. Nebuta is a form of storytelling – mythical heroes, demons and animals come to life as massive paper lanterns, illuminated from within by thousands of lights. Thumping Taiko drums, chanting Haneto dancers, flutes and bells bring the hot August streets to life.

The building is meant to be a mythical House for Nebuta.

The Nebuta House, image courtesy molo | Photo by Iwan Baan

12m tall steel ribbons surround the building, deep red and smooth, inspired by northern lacquerware. Each ribbon was individually crafted, then manually adjusted during installation; they are essentially handmade rather than digitally produced.

Within the grey city, the Nebuta House is like a vibrant theatre curtain; it provides a backdrop dramatizing everyday life. Traffic passing by, city workers breaking for lunch and children playing take on a quality of performance.

The Nebuta House, image courtesy molo

The screen creates a sheltered pedestrian space – a threshold between the city and world of myth. Shadows cast on the walls and floor seem to create a new and always shifting material. Light, shadow and reflection change throughout the day depending on weather and season.

The Nebuta House, image courtesy molo | Photo by Iwan Baan

Narrow streets and alleyways in the city lead toward the building. At these points, the steel ribbons are swept aside at their gravel base to create openings for people to pass through.

In full sunlight the screen literally disappears into the sky and reveals a gradient of reds and golden yellows. At certain angles the ribbons are transparent; at other angles, the screen looks opaque.

The Nebuta House, image courtesy molo

Qualities of shadow and light are derived from old Japanese houses. The screens partitioning rooms seperate space but maintain an abstract visual connection; interior screens are treated with a process that blackens the metal and retains the galvanized zinc texture.

The Nebuta House, image courtesy molo

The architectural gems that we see in Japan are often built for private clients with deep understanding. Government budgets are low and under constant scrutiny. A hope sustaining us through many difficult challenges was that the building might one day be embraced by the people of Aomori as a house for Nebuta.

The Nebuta House, image courtesy molo

The innermost room is the the Nebuta Hall. The Nebuta reside here, suspended in the darkness, waiting for an opportunity to leave the building through a huge sliding door. The open door reveals Aomori Harbour and the Hakkoda mountains beyond. At festival time the Nebuta exit each evening.

The Nebuta House - Level 1 floor plan, drawing courtesy molo

The Nebuta House - Level 2 floor plan, drawing courtesy molo

+ Project credits / data

Project: The Nebuta House
Location: Northern Japan
Lead design: molo, Todd MacAllen + Stephanie Forsythe
Construction documents + site supervision: d&dt Arch, Frank la Rivière Architects Inc.
Structure: Kanebako Structural Engineers
MEP: PT Morimura & Associates, Ltd.
Type: Culture | Museum
Photographers: molo, Iwan Baan, Shigeo Ogawa

+ All images and drawings courtesy molo

The neo-gothic Mariendom cathedral of Linz, on which planning commenced in 1855 and which was consecrated in 1924, is the largest church in Austria. Domplatz square was itself a muddle in comparison and might be described as almost "unfinished", given that the original idea to free up the entire quadrangle between the streets called Stifter-, Hafner-, Baumbach- and Herrenstrasse, by removing all buildings and creating a park, was not implemented. Instead various interventions such as privately created front gardens and the construction of garages led to a heterogeneous situation, which was unsatisfactory from the point of view of urban planning and was to be resolved by means of a competition. The latter was also to include the construction of a hotel and underground car park as well as the revitalisation of two existing baroque buildings on the southwest side of the square.

Hotel Domplatz Linz, image courtesy Hohensinn architecture | Photo by Paul Ott

One of the important fundamental ideas behind the project was to create a new urban planning situation. Domplatz square was freed of various developments, and the cross-grid arrangement of paving hinders the emergence of a dominant directionality so as to favour a generous, neutral surface that permits a rich variety of uses. In the area of the existing buildings by Herrengasse a compact, distinct ensemble with mini-squares and alleys was created through forging links with the surrounding streets and by means of the solitary positioning of the new hotel; concentrating the now urbanised Domplatz at the interface to the heart of the city, a place at the square.

Hotel Domplatz Linz, image courtesy Hohensinn architecture | Photo by Paul Ott

Both baroque houses were returned to original, revitalised and improved. They now house long-stay apartments, a restaurant and seminar facilities.

The new hotel is a confident, sculptural solitaire building, on the one hand reacting to the arrangement and vertical extent of neighbouring buildings and, on the other, offering a response to the simultaneously delicate and dominant structure of the cathedral. The building "floats" above the square, its mass dissolving into a concrete framework, whilst its morphology, with folds in the facade and a profile becoming more slender towards the top, connects with the form of the cathedral chancel and underlines the small component ensemble effect achieved together with the existing baroque buildings.

Hotel Domplatz Linz, image courtesy Hohensinn architecture | Photo by Paul Ott

A funnel-shaped atrium, lit from above, cuts through the hotel building, thus ruling out narrow, dingy corridors and repeating the theme of transparency and openness in the interior. The actual rooms are spacious and airy, with full-height glass walls offering a sense of close involvement with the cathedral and immediate surroundings.

+ Project credits / data

Project: Hotel Domplatz Linz
Location: Austria, 4200 Linz; Herrenstrasse, Stifterstrasse
Client: Stiftung St. Severin, Linz

Planning: Hohensinn Architektur, Graz
Project management, hotel + car park: DI Erich Ganster
Project management, houses 36 + 38: DI Helmut Lanz
Design leader: Karlheinz Boiger
Team: DI Ognjen Persoglio, DI Pair Dicke,  Klemens Mitheis, Mario Mayrl, DI Thomas Klietmann, Franz Jelisitz

Project management: Jastrinsky GmbH & Co KG, Salzburg
Structural analysis: DI Peter Pawel, Linz, Praher & Schuster ZT GmbH, Linz
Soil mechanics: Sigma Consult GmbH, Linz
Building physics: Dr. Pfeiler GmbH, Graz
Building services: TB Freunschlag GmbH, Linz
Lighting planning: Licht-Innovativ GmbH, Innsbruck
Site supervision: Hinterwirth Architekten ZV OG, Gmunden

Photographer: Paul Ott

Start of planning: 03 / 2006
Start of construction: 04 / 2007
Completion: 04 / 2009
Hotel usable floor space: 245 m²
Number of rooms: 71
Gross floor area: 4191m²
Gross volume: 14871 m³
Car park usable area: 5967 m²
Number of parking spaces: 206
Net cost of construction: ca.12 million EUR

Usable floor space: ca. 1107 m²
Start of planning: 10 / 2007
Start of construction: 01 / 2008
Completion: 04 / 2009
Net cost of construction: ca. 3.17 million EUR

Prize: Clients' Award 2009
Prize: Architectural award "vis à vis – exemplary buildings for culture, tourism, sports" 2009
Prize: Regional prize for art of the federal state of Upper Austria:
"Hotel am Domplatz" in Linz was awarded the distinction "building of the year"
Nomination:   Mies van der Rohe Award – European Union Prize 2011

For architect Fernanda Marques, the Black is definitely linked to timelessness. It is always the same, yet it changes all the time. It has been around for decades and is still up-to-date. It could not be more appropriate, therefore, to define a home décor exhibition show where exclusiveness is everything.

The Garage Lounge, image courtesy Fernanda Marques | Photo by Demian Golovaty

In this first edition I am showing the way I approach maleness. Always with contemporary materials, design and art.

Fernanda Marques

The Garage Lounge, image courtesy Fernanda Marques | Photo by Demian Golovaty

Using a bold glass structure, the Garage Lounge is the only space in the exhibition that was actually built, with around 150m². A flexible use space where a sophisticated occupant finds the perfect setting to relax, work or entertain friends. Reading a book, sharing a nice wine, listening to good music or watching favourite games and matches are other activities the space allows for – be it in the entertainment area, in the lounge or by the huge bar, fitted with wall-to-wall wine-cooling units. All this amid plenty of greenery and with state-of-the-art technology at one's fingertips.

I tried to create the place a man would have imagined if he were to turn the garage into his very own space. So the design maximises the available space, by means of a contemporary glazed gazebo, capable of doing away with boundaries between inside and outside.

Fernanda Marques

When mentioning the façade of her project as one of its highlights, with its stickered 3-D effect, Fernanda added

I also decided to cast my eyes towards some of the icons pertaining to the world of men: motorcycles, speed, practicality, wanting to share moments with friends.

The Garage Lounge, image courtesy Fernanda Marques | Photo by Demian Golovaty

Also the living pictures, huge structures filled with plants – by Quadro Vivo®, capable of ensuring visual and acoustic privacy in the glass box deserve a second look. Inside, the high points are the wine cellar, fitted with coloured lights and, right at the entrance, the avant-garde steel bench designed by the architect.

The Garage Lounge, image courtesy Fernanda Marques | Photo by Demian Golovaty

The exhibition opens on 20th June, and will take place in a 1,500 m2 house in São Paulo's Jardim Europa, built in the 1940's by architect Jacques Pillon. The house will be totally reinvented by the 14 professionals invited to create their spaces based on their interpretations of “What does it mean to be Black?”.

+ Project credits / data

Project: The Garage Lounge at décor exhibition Hyundai Mostra Black
Designer: Fernanda Marques | http://www.fernandamarques.com.br/
Photographer: Demian Golovaty

+ All images courtesy Fernanda Marques Arquitetos Associados | Photo by Demian Golovaty

+ Other selected interior projects by Fernanda Marques

Chef's Kitchen and Lounge for Boa Mesa Exhibit | Fernanda Marques Arquitetos Associados

Sustainable Winter Loft | Fernanda Marques Arquitetos Associados