The Daegu Library site is situated in the heart of city of Daegu, the 3rd largest city in South Korea.

With the design of the Daegu library we wanted to fully embrace the expanding role of the modern library as a center of both knowledge and community. By reversing the traditional library layout, moving the main reading rooms to the top, we wanted to emphasize ideas of openness, flexibility and community within the design.

Jens Holm, Founder, HAO

The design of the library is imagined as a natural extension of local life in the surrounding area. By creating a flexible framework it sets up its main premise: defining an inviting new urban center for both people and knowledge.

courtesy Holm Architecture Office

The ground floor of the building is flexible and open with three public entrances allowing visitors to flow through the lounge, visitor and information center areas unobstructed. The flexible ground floor layout allows the library to host different functions throughout the year spanning from fashion shows to public readings and lectures.

courtesy Holm Architecture Office

courtesy Holm Architecture Office

The program specific parts of the building are stacked above, set back from the building façade, culminating in the main reading room and book stack areas situated at the top. This program placement reverses the traditional library model and creates unique opportunities for reading and studying in areas that are filled with light and air.

courtesy Holm Architecture Office

To shield the main book stack area from direct sunlight, the buildings glass roof has an integrated shading pattern that diffuses and filters light above the most sensitive book areas.

The building design takes full advantage of natural ventilation and utilizes trees to provide natural exterior shading around the building.

+ Project credits / data

Name: Daegu Library
Program: Library and Community Center
Architect: Holm Architecture Office
Type: Open Competition
Size: 3000 M2
Location: Daegu, South Korea

+ All images and drawings courtesy Holm Architecture Office

YLAB Arquitectos recently has completed the House Rehabilitation in Bellaterra.

The project consists of the rehabilitation of a one family house and its outdoor space located in the beautiful residential area of Bellaterra, in Cerdanyola del Vallès; closed to Barcelona and in the surroundings of the Collserola natural park.

The owners, a family passionate about light and spacious interiors, bought the property because of its fantastic views, but knew from the beginning, they needed a radical rehabilitation that would transform the house and its outdoors.

courtesy YLAB Arquitectos

The original property, located in a plot with a strong slope, consisted of a 442 m2 house divided in two floors and an underground level. Both the garden and the house were showing considerable problems that had to be solved. On the one hand, the house had a very irregular and angular brick work volume, with porches and windows in many different sizes and sometimes poor exterior connections. On the other hand, the outdoor spaces were badly designed, with a back garden which was in a much lower level than the house and it ended in such a strong slope that was very difficult to use or enjoy. Finally, the inner distribution was narrow and dark, with many different too small rooms and long corridors.

courtesy YLAB Arquitectos

First of all, the proposal aims to unify the exterior aspect of the house. To achieve this, the dimensions of the existing porches and windows were adjusted; and some new windows were opened to allow daylight to flood in.

On the north side, the front façade, which was almost blind and had a narrow and useless porch, required a more radical intervention. For that, the porch was eliminated and the façade level was moved forward occupying the porch space and making the living room bigger. A large 13 meters Niangon wood window appears in its place, integrating the access door and connecting the living room with the front garden.

courtesy YLAB Arquitectos

On the back garden, a series of terraces were created as an extension of the house, to soften the slope of the plot and make all the gardens usable. The first terrace is situated at the house ground level, covered with bushhammered Sabbia natural stone and partially cantilevered over an Ipe wooden terrace and an infinity pool. A wooden stairway leads down to the terraced garden, closed to the Sabbia stone wall of the pool.

courtesy YLAB Arquitectos

Regarding the interior distribution, the proposal chose to empty the house interior and offer a new contemporary functional program; creating large spaces formed by different interconnected ambients, with large central vestibules for access and vertical communication which join the spaces on both sides without using corridors.

The ground floor is formed by a large living room with a dining area, subtly separated by a big Sabbia natural stone fireplace, and a kitchen at the back. The living room opens up toward the back terrace through large sliding glass doors that can be fully hidden inside the façade, and also toward the front garden through the large wooden window. The result is a very luminous inner space with many visual connections to the outdoor space. In that same floor, on the other side of the entrance vestibule, there is a more  private continuous space formed by a family room, an office and a music room that can be separated from the rest by two large sliding doors.

courtesy YLAB Arquitectos

The upper floor is formed by the different dormitories, separated by the central vestibule which is used a children leisure room. The master dormitory is composed by a closet, a working desk integrated in the bedroom, a bathroom and an own terrace.

In the interior, the pavements are covered with natural Sahel polished limestone, which reflects the light increasing its intensity; the walls are painted in ivory white color; and the built-in furniture are finished in ivory white satin lacquer or natural tropical Etimoe wood, showing an elegant orange grain that bring a look of natural warmth in contrast with the white and glossy surfaces.

Designed by OODA, this competition intent was to establish a proposal for a Central Library to Helsinki that aims to incorporate a combination of personal cultivation, culture enhancement and entertainment. The library has been transformed from a space to read into a social center with multiple responsibilities. Consequently it needs to be thought as a functionally versatile meeting place, a store of education in which the users are the focus and the building itself the symbol of attraction and connectivity.

courtesy OODA

courtesy OODA

courtesy OODA

courtesy OODA

+ Project facts

Helsinki Centra Library
Helsinki, Finland, 2012

Architect: OODA
Team: Diogo Brito, Rodrigo Vilas-Boas, Francisco Lencastre, Duarte Fontes, Tiago Sa, Vania Coelho, Jose Mendanha, Jose Pedro Valente, Luisa Coelho
Collaboration: GEG, RGA
Client: City of Helsinki
Size: 10.100 total sqm
Type: Competition

+ All images and drawings courtesy OODA

courtesy AND-RÉ | Photo by João Soares

AND-RÉ, constantly concerned with the urban mobility, environmental sustainability and urban quality lifestyle issues, enthusiastically accepted the challenge of developing the design of the Public Bikes for the Portuguese city of Vilamoura.

The office was responsible for the overall design of the VILAMOURA PUBLIC BIKES, a system of shared bicycles which opened earlier this month.

The slick, light, white, pure and user friendly bike is a success among the citizens, that are massively adopting the bicycle system as primary means of transportation, changing the car for a ride in style.

courtesy AND-RÉ | Photo by João Soares

Context

The system is understood as part of an effective urban transport network in Vilamoura, a place of excellence for the use of bicycles. Vilamoura is a city of flat topography, with a mild climate throughout the year, extensive green spaces and a wide network of bikeways.

The current city philosophy, with several collaborations of AND-RÉ on various previous projects, consistently aims to the humanization of urban space, thereby returning the city to people. Vilamoura offers now the possibility of using the bicycle as an effective alternative means of transport, throughout all the urban area.

courtesy AND-RÉ | Photo by João Soares

The Bicycle

• Object of Territorial Identity
• Integrated Urban Transport System
• Democratic
• Expanded Range of Users
• Fun
• Exclusive

courtesy AND-RÉ | Photo by João Soares

The Project

The office produced a wide range of design aspects, from the overall design of the bicycles to the design of the graphic identity system, including logos, maps, informational columns or electronic cards.

We see the bike not only as a mere functional utensil, but as an iconographic representation of the territory and landscape. The object is therefore a statement, a symbol and a representation of the city identity. Developing a truly democratic equipment was also a primary objective, requiring a great accuracy in ergonomic study and in the visual/formal language in order to achieve a unisex non-discriminatory product.

The bike is the result of a debugged design, expressing lightness and purity. Technically it was necessary to develop new solutions that synthesized the paraphernalia of elements that normally characterize public bicycles. The concept aimed to minimize, hide and rethink all the elements, an approach that resulted in an innovative design of vintage inspirations.

courtesy AND-RÉ | Photo by João Soares

+ Project facts

Scope: Public Bicycles / Urban Equipment
Status: Implemented
Location: Vilamoura / Portugal
Date: 2012
Promoter: Inframoura, EM
Design Team: Bruno André / Francisco Salgado Ré / César Rocha / Fernando Ferreira / Paulo Bouça / Sara João
Photography: João Soares

+ ABOUT AND-RÉ

AND-RÉ (www.and-re.pt) is multidisciplinary office with a global approach, dedicated to the study, research and practice of architecture, design and art. AND-RÉ approach main issues with fresh spirit, innovative methods and open minded personality. The office has been strengthening its position in the emergent architecture panorama, adopting an active critic posture before established contexts. AND-RÉ’s goal is to pursue and maintain positive differentiated responses, in a time of fast paradigm changes.

We love architecture. We love design. We love art and their relatives. We do it with pleasure!

+ All images courtesy AND-RÉ  | Photo by João Soares