courtesy 1000yearsold

courtesy 1000yearsold

L'Atelier du Miel boutique is located in Tabaris-Achrafieh, a busy neighborhood in the center of Beirut, and is fully dedicated to honey and honey products.

courtesy 1000yearsold

The main architectural challenge faced when designing the boutique was to be able to display the largest variety of honey types that come in three jar sizes each,and to stock the largest quantity of honey in a small space of 30sqm.

The concept created by architecture bureau 1000yearsold (1000yearsold.com) is the result of a joint effort between architectural design and graphic design, and proposes a solution that unifies display and storage in custom designed modules that would fit the three jar sizes.

courtesy 1000yearsold

As a result, the 30 sqm boutique can fit more than 3 tonsof honey simultaneously,and display more than 30 kinds of honey and honey products while giving each kind its importance in the overall design.

We carefully chose the galvanized metal grating as material for our modules, because its lightness and reflectiveness give emphasis to the products rather than just creating storage space.

courtesy 1000yearsold

courtesy 1000yearsold

Much more than only proposing a solution, the design also tells a story – one that reflects nature's cycle and the seasonal work of the bees. In fact, given each honey kind is branded with a different color, the dominant color of the boutique changes according to the season and the honey we harvest – for example in the spring the dominant color in the boutique is red reflecting cherry blossom honey harvest, while in the summer, the color of the boutique tends towards green reflecting the oak honey harvest.

The 2 tons harvest is displayed in small jars, each in its own module, exactly the way bees store nectar of flowers in the hexagons of their hives. The continuity of modularity in the metal grating itself, repeating the modularity of the jar cubicles at a smaller scale, also opens up a window to sends us back to where it all began – in the fields

The brand

L’Atelier du Miel was founded by three young people of different backgrounds, with a common passion for nature, beekeeping and artisanal work, and committed to producing a pure honey through natural methods.

To produce natural, rich and a unique set of honey, L'Atelier du miel carefully selects its natural sites to fully benefit of the richness of the Lebanese territory, unique in its position, mountains and diversity of climatic conditions.

L'Atelier du Miel is characterized by a unique production method that consists of repositioning beehives every three months to follow seasonal flower blossoms, allowing bees to feed only on nectar of flowers and on honeydew of trees, and to produce natural honey with diverse tastes and countless virtues.

Thereby, bees harvest nectar and honeydew from Cedars in Barouk forests, Oak trees in Keserouan forests, from fields of cherry in Zahle, peach and apricot trees in Rechmaya, hawthorn in Kab Elias, thorns in AinDara, medlar trees in Saida, and orange trees in Tyre and Akkar.

L'Atelier du Mielcollaborates with beekeepers in Europe and selects their finest regional honey to complement its selection.

L'Atelier du Mielalso produces with its own honey a wide range of honey based products: from jams, made exclusively from fresh fruits and honey, to nougat, cakes, gingerbread and ice creams.

© Aidia Studio / Orproject / Architectural Association

© Aidia Studio / Orproject / Architectural Association

Frsh is a pavilion built by the Architectural Association Beijing Visiting School 2013. Tutored by Rolando Rodriguez-Leal of Aidia Studio and Christoph Klemmt of Orproject, 10 students designed and manufactured the installation within the 9 day course which was held at Tsinghua University in Beijing.

© Aidia Studio / Orproject / Architectural Association

© Aidia Studio / Orproject / Architectural Association

The geometry of the surface was generated using digital, force-based analysis simulations, which resulted in compression and tension based morphologies. The surface itself becomes the structural system, which at the same time mediates the programmatic and spatial requirements of its surroundings. Each group of students designed large scale landscape and building proposals during the course of the workshop, and the installation was developed as a prototype for a possible construction system of the proposals.

© Aidia Studio / Orproject / Architectural Association

© Aidia Studio / Orproject / Architectural Association

Already the digital simulation used a tessellated geometry for its calculation, and this was further refined to create a paneling system for a simple manufacturing and assembly. Although the surface is double-curved in itself, each of its hexagonal components is perfectly flat and laser cut out of aluminium sheets. Openings of varying sizes allow for a differentiation of dark and light spaces. The integrated flanges could be folded by hand, stiffening the structure and forming the connecting points between components. The assembly itself took the group a mere 10 hours.

Like a magic carpet Frsh is hovering in space, creating volumes underneath it and a continuously floating landscape above.

© Aidia Studio / Orproject / Architectural Association

+ Project facts

Frsh University:
Architectural Association Visiting School at Tsinghua University, www.aaschool.ac.uk

Tutors:
Christoph Klemmt, Orproject, www.orproject.com, info@orproject.com
Rolando Rodriguez-Leal, Aidia Studio, www.aidia-studio.com, info@aidia-studio.com

Engineering Consultant:
Rob May, Buro Happold

Manufacturing Consultant:
Rajat Sodhi, Orproject

Students:
XingChen Dong, Weicheng Li, Junzhe Liu, ShihShih Shen, Wenyang Wang, Haoran Wen, Fan Wu, Xiaoxue Xiao, Shuya Xu, Sijia Yang, Huopu Zhang

Exhibition Team:
He You, Yang Shangzhi, Mao Tianyu , Liu Chunmao

Date:
February 2013

Photographers:
Tian Tian Ma, Emma Huang

+ All photographs copyright by Aidia Studio / Orproject / Architectural Association.

Robert and John are travellers. They collect sculptures by local artists and bring them home. They have a keen eye for modernism and minimal design and they don't settle for ordinary. They love cooking and they avoid the unnecessary. In building their home, rzlbd respects their curiosity for style.

courtesy borXu Design

A totem is sculptures within a sculpture. The totem in Totem House is a vertical gallery that exhibits John and Robert's souvenirs from around the world. Each piece has been carefully measured and placed in a designated niche inside the Tower. An open wooden staircase connecting the three stories of the house gently circulates around the totem allowing one to observe the artworks from many different angles. During the day the skylight above the staircase naturally illuminates the totem, and at nighttime dedicated LED lights installed inside the niches light each piece. The totem naturally becomes the focal point in the house, as it is visible from every corner on all levels.

courtesy borXu Design

The evolution of design was a simple geometrical obsession with squares and grids. Starting with ten 10' x 10' squares carefully assembled on the linear site, logical modules were then dedicated to essential rooms in the house. The squares not only define the interior rooms, but they also formulate the boundaries of the backyard patio, the landscape, the parking area and the covered entry to the house. The totem sits on the central square dividing the living/dining area from the kitchen on the ground floor and the two bedrooms on the second floor.

courtesy borXu Design

Robert and John's kitchen could not be a typical urban kitchen, because they don't have typical cooking habits. They passionately care for taste and they are minimal and chic. A gas burner cook-top with no hood on top was what they wanted to cook their food on. Except for the appliances everything is concealed behind the white cabinet doors that cover the wall from floor to ceiling.

On the second floor the master bedroom is yet another manifesto of their style, with the ensuite and the bedroom entirely merged together and washed with natural light, the challenge was to define the wet zones without disturbing them with drywalls. Beautiful marble tiles separate the shower and the bathtub area from the rest of the hardwood floor. The freestanding bathtub installed in the corner of the room has a peaceful corner view to the courtyard.

courtesy borXu Design

The exterior of the house is a monolithic charcoal brick mass. Two small blocks on the north and south facade of this perfect mass have been extracted and cladded with wood. The small wooden corner creates an interesting deception where one imagines the wood to be the core material of the brick mass, like a bitten apple exposing the color of its flesh. The harmonious contrast of the charcoal brick and the wood with the immediate neighbors is tied to the surroundings with a humble design for the landscape allowing the neighbors to perfectly frame the house.

courtesy borXu Design

+ Project facts

Design: Reza Aliabadi [rzlbd]
Project Team: Reza Aliabadi, Lailee Soleimani
Structure: Ali Saeed
Construction Management: Ali Malekzadeh
Architectural Photography: borXu Design
Building Type: Single family house
Location: Toronto
Basics: Two story wood structure
Lot: 25′X100′
Living Area: 1600 sqft
Design: 2011
Completion: Summer 2013
Client: Robert Langton & John Farrauto

+ All photography by borXu Design