Hotel  Sultania is a hotel which takes its name after the sultans of  Ottoman empire and carries comfort and lines of that period.

It is a project of which design and application made by Bora ÇAKILKAYA and finished in a little time period such as 90 days. As the hotel situated an area called Old Istanbul City, the designer reflected this region's lines and also stories to the place.

Hotel Sultania, image courtesy P-ARCH | Photo by Ali BEKMAN

Hotel Sultania, image courtesy P-ARCH | Photo by Ali BEKMAN

In the reception area, where the service provided in a theatrical scene, many details were considered to make the guests feel themselves special.

Hotel Sultania, image courtesy P-ARCH | Photo by Ali BEKMAN

Hotel Sultania, image courtesy P-ARCH | Photo by Ali BEKMAN

There are well-considered details in the rooms and as well as in the sexy baths that will make you feel as sultans. Periodical marbles are popularly applied to the bath, in which is supported by glass with sexy harem images on it.

Many lighting forms and furniture indoor are designed by Bora ÇAKILKAYA.

+ Project credits / data

Design: P-ARCH | http://www.p-arch.com/
Photographer : Ali BEKMAN
Location: Old Istanbul City, Turkey

+ All images courtesy P-ARCH

softshelter is an experimental system for creating personal space within a larger shelter area in order to provide individuals and families with a sense of privacy and encourage community-building in the days following a disaster.

softshelter is part of molo's ongoing research-driven exploration of materials, fabrication techniques and space-making with a focus on enhancing common daily ritual and flexible use of space.

We are currently preparing a study in which a member of the molo team will occupy softshelter; the flexible shelter will be set up in molo's workshop space from now through September.

By occupying the shelter as it is being designed, we will be able to make discoveries that allow us to further refine a system that, hopefully, will one day be able to assist in disaster relief in an immediate and tangible way.

molo

use + care

Drawing courtesy molo

• view films of softwall + softblock in use http://molodesign.com/films/softwall_softblock
• Ensure that the floor surface is flat, clean and dry before setting up softwall.
• softwall + softblock are intended to have a long useful life. Nevertheless, they are made with material that is 100% recyclable (just remove magnetic end panels).

Drawing courtesy molo

softwall can be flat packed for efficient shipping and can be quickly unpacked and expanded to create walls and rooms. Communities of shelters can be set up with a small group of untrained people, in a short amount of time and without tools.

softshelter · setting up a room

Drawing courtesy molo

With 1-2 people, private rooms for individual families can be created within minutes without tools or experience. softwall quickly and easily expands to create the four walls of the space The end panels are connected magnetically to each other.

softshelter · setting up a community of rooms

Drawing courtesy molo

A community of rooms can be created very quickly with a small group of untrained people.
The flat packed softwalls can be easily carried to a desired area and set up in infinite arrangements. Private rooms can be joined to other 'neighbours' by connecting the magnetic end panels of the softwalls together.

softshelter · room types

Drawing courtesy molo

softshelter · connection types

Drawing courtesy molo

softshelter · form making

Drawing courtesy molo

• corridors
  Blocks of rooms can be spaced apart to create corridors that allow for circulation within the space.
• adjoined rooms
  Extended family and friends can choose to open up adjoining rooms to create shared living spaces.
• common areas
  Shifting the flexible softwalls apart creates a common living area for socializing, public activities and gatherings.
• opening rooms
  Larger open spaces can be created by compressing the walls of each room.

softshelter · room conditions

Drawing courtesy molo

softshelter · using the door

Drawing courtesy molo

The door accessory can be adhered to any softwall to be used as an adjustable door. the circular holes on the door attachment allow for easy handling from both inside and outside of the room. The door accessory can be used in all types of connection points (two, three, and four ways).

softshelter · home-making accessories

Drawing courtesy molo

These home making accessories allow families and individuals to personalize their space.
The clipping system, flower vase and tyvek hanger allow for personal items to be hung on the walls. Wet items and shower supplies are contained on the water resistant tyvek hanger and safe from the kraft paper softwall. The LED light can be positioned within the interior space when no other light source is available. These simple accessories empower users to create a sense of home in the temporary shelter.

softshelter · community accessories

Drawing courtesy molo

signage can be used in a number of ways in a community of shelters; wayfinding for emergency help, bathrooms or showers, a notice board for people to communicate, or a name that identifies the family living in a room.

The transducer accessory allows the softwall to act as a speaker for community announcements.

softshelter · 12V power

Drawing courtesy molo

After a disaster, essential resources like power and communication are not available. In time these resources are restored. A simple 12V power system can be integrated with softshelter to bring connection and control into the lives of those inhabiting the shelter.

Designed by Margot Krasojevic, the project is for the design of 2 cable car stations along the edge of the Gobi desert, starting from Ordos city the trail leads into the deserts sand dunes, a major tourist attraction. The form optimises the use of dichroic and holographic film in glass cladding, which helps to adapt to the specific site conditions and their extreme temperatures and reflectivity, while articulating a coherent overall formal architectural language.

Dichroic Illusion Stations, render courtesy Margot Krasojevic

Two contrasting elements 'Reflecting sky & Shadow' generate each station's design criteria, influencing a series of reflected and projected spatial experiences both physical and projected light displays. A lightweight organic roof structure floats on top of a concrete plinth. The artificial landscape functions as a relief in which various movements and circulations are inscribed. The Roof Shell's fluid shapes and organic contours mimic the nature of the ever changing sand dunes, like it’s environment the structure is never seen in the same way twice. It shimmers and abstracts as well as camouflages itself within it’s context, it’s presence and characteristic always determined by the natural sunlight and it’s intensity.

Dichroic Illusion Stations, render courtesy Margot Krasojevic

New production methods like CNC milling and thermoforming guarantee a very precise and automatic translation of the computer generated design into the built structure. The resulting aesthetics might be reminiscent of streamlined Industrial Design pieces (Car Bodies, Aeroplane Wings, Yachts etc.). Each station has its context, its topography, its projected light spaces, its movements. The track's inclination and ratios are dominant technical parameters. A high degree of flexibility enables the shell structures to adjust to these various parameters while still responding directly to the natural light levels which have determined its form. The concept of lightness is explored. Large cantilevers and small touch down areas underline a floating appearance of the dichroic illusion stations.

Dichroic Illusion Stations, render courtesy Margot Krasojevic

The form allows for air to circulate and cool the interior, the plinth prevents conduction of heat from the immediate environment. The structure is lifted from the ground permitting  a breeze to move through the pre-cast concrete primary structure. The structure accommodates different types of cladding modules, which can be replaced according to season, during the winter months the Siberian winds form sheets of ice, the photovoltaic polychrystalline panels keep the stations from freezing allowing for the winds to carry through it not only sand but prevent ice from settling within the structure. The structure acts as an atrium, perforated temporary louvres shelter from the sand and direct sun whilst the Thermoplus energy high yield glass acts as an all season insulating glass, providing thermal insulation against both cold and excessive heat.

Dichroic Illusion Stations, render courtesy Margot Krasojevic

Whilst the overall form allows for the prevailing Siberian winter winds to glide over it it is important to test  materials within a formal constraint in order to understand the materials affects on light reflection and refraction particularly when working with the environment and sustainability. The form has developed using a computer software which uses the dynamics and physics of a specific environment such as the Ordos desert in order to understand through simulation and caustics how light is scattered and can be controlled in turn predicting how exactly the form can influence and respond to it’s environment. An important mechanical test rather than purely a formal gesture.

Dichroic Illusion Stations, render courtesy Margot Krasojevic

+ Project credits / data

Project: Dichroic Illusion Stations
Design Type: 2 cable car stations
Designer: Margot Krasojevic
Type: Transportation | Cable Car stations
Location: Ordos Shi, Kubuqi desert, Inner Mongolia Peoples Republic of China
Client: Mr Feng Gao , Ordos Shi City Dongsheng district with China Film House, Beijing
Building status: ongoing building work
Site type: rural

+ Other project by Margot Krasojevic

Infinity Pavilion | Margot Krasojevic

SOLID architecture designed a bridge that is enclosed on all sides to connect the two buildings Rennweg 44 and 46 at the fifth upper floor, 17 metres above the Kleistgasse in the third district of Vienna. The bridge with a span length of 22 metres was completed in May 2009.

Skywalk Rennweg 44 - 46, image courtesy SOLID architecture

Skywalk Rennweg 44 - 46, image courtesy SOLID architecture

Architecture

In reference to its outward appearance, the bridge adds a third and formally individual element to the two existing buildings dating back to the 1980ies. The fair grey metallic colour of the exterior surfaces of the bridge assimilates with the grey-green colour spectrum of the two already existing building structures.

Skywalk Rennweg 44 - 46, image courtesy SOLID architecture

Large-area glazed sidewalls make the supporting construction of the bridge, which is arranged inside, visible from the outside, and they make the bridge appear light and transparent.

The interior area of the bridge has its own individual character, independent of the two already existing buildings.

Skywalk Rennweg 44 - 46, image courtesy SOLID architecture

If you cross the bridge, you will experience space that is dominated by the dynamic alignments of the supporting construction and the bottom and top plate. There may also be made out a colour difference between the interior area of the bridge on the one and the existing building structure on the other side. With the exception of the fair grey floor, all surfaces are white.

Extending from the building Rennweg 46, there is created a horizontal plane into the road space, 17 metres above ground level of the Kleistgasse. From this horizontal area, there is presented a wonderful view onto the road space situated beyond and as far as the towers of the Arsenal. Following a bend in the botton plate, a slightly inclined ramp counterbalances the difference in height between the two building structures and leads into the building Rennweg 44.

The construction of the details is reduced and simply supports the view and the atmosphere and the effect of the space created.

Skywalk Rennweg 44 - 46 - Section, drawing courtesy SOLID architecture

Statical System of the Bridge

The main supporting structure of the bridge is formed by means of two supporter trusses spanned beyond.

The top chords of these trusses – welded hollow profiles with a lower flange projecting on one side – are integrated in the roof plane. The trussed beams consist of welded rectangular hollow steel tubes.

There are integrated welded I-beams as supports in the walking plane. These I-beams are suspended by means of tension rods from the main supporters, and they are attached to the supporter trusses of the main supporters in the bend of the bridge.

Roof and floor level are formed as horizontal latticed framework and transmit the horizontal load into the already existing buiding structures.

Skywalk Rennweg 44 - 46, image courtesy SOLID architecture

Geometry of the Bridge

From the buildings Rennweg 44 and Rennweg 46, there is extended a horizontal plane into the road space:
The bottom plate of the 5th upper floor Rennweg 46 as bottom plate of the bridge, the ceiling above the 5th upper floor Rennweg 44 as roof of the bridge.

The bottom plate with a 6% inclined ramp and the bridge roof with its inclined roof area extend over to the 1.04 m-offset level of the neighbouring building. The bends of the two levels – bottom plate and roof – are situated on top of each other.

Skywalk Rennweg 44 - 46 - Plan, drawing courtesy SOLID architecture

In ground view, the bridge is tapering from 2.70m down to a width of 2.35m at the middle of the bridge.  In combination with the bends in the roof and the bottom plate there is created a bridge structure, which extends across the road space in a rather elegant way; furthermore, its interior area is clearly dominated by the perspective dynamics of the strongly aligned lines.

Illumination

The bridge is illuminated by means of two parallel light panels extending alongside the glass walls. These two light bands imitate the bends in the roof and the sidewalls.

+ Project credits / data

Project: Skywalk Rennweg 44 – 46
Location: Skywalk, Rennweg 44 – 46, 1030 Vienna
Purpose: Skywalk / Connecting Bridge between building Rennweg 44 and Rennweg 46

Architecture: SOLID architecture ZT GmbH | http://www.solid.ac/
Project Management: Arch. DI Christoph Hinterreitner
Collaborators: Arch DI Christine Horner
Client: Österreichische Lotterien GmbH
Structural Engineering: RWT PLUS ZT GmbH
Building Physics: RWT PLUS ZT GmbH
Construction Supervision: CF SER/IM/BPM der Österreichischen Lotterien

Contractors
Builder: SAN AS BAU
Steel / Glass Construction: Stahlbau Kamper GmbH
Plumber: Ing. Ledermüller GmbH
Electrician: Fleck Elektroinstallationen GmbH
Fire Protection Gate: Peneder Feuerschutz GmbH
Photographer of the Project: Günter Kresser
Holder of the Copyright: SOLID architecture ZT GmbH

Planning Data
Direct Commission: no, 1stprize in invited competition
Project Status: Project completed
Competition: July / September 2008
Start of Planning: October 2008
Start of Construction: April 2009
Completion: May 2009

Project Data
Gross Area: 54 m²
Built up Area: 54 m²
Useable Surface: 44 m²
Building Volume: 189 m²
Construction Costs: 40.000 € without bearing
Construction: Stahlkonstruktion, Seitenwände verglast
Spatial Program: Skywalk / Connecting Bridge

Awards, Prizes: Exhibition "Gebaut 2009", Architektonische Begutachtungen der MA 19

+ All images and drawings courtesy SOLID architecture