Monday, 05 November 2007 |
It’s not only the destination that is important — the trip itself
matters as well. Both literally and figuratively. So why are we left
bored out of our heads, plus cold, wet, angry and hungry, as we wait
(and wait and wait) in line ups?
It is because the operators of clubs, cinemas, theatres, restaurants,
sports facilities and other entertainment venues fail to embrace – or
take advantage of — the entire user experience. We are right there,
waiting to be entertained and they ignore us and leave us out in the
cold?
As we ponder this, we are delighted when something like this fun ski-lift shows
up under our radar. It serves as a metaphor for the idea of doing more
than the minimum with every aspect of the experience. What we see is
ingenuity, creativity, and a sense of style and fun.
We know going down the hill will be fun, so why not make going up great, too? By Tuija Seipell
See also: A Swiss Chalet
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Friday, 02 November 2007 |
Making a material like concrete seem weightless has been an initiative
of many modern architects. The Portuguese team of P&R
Arquitectos managed to balance imposing aggregate blocks over a
glass-enclosed living space in their design for Casa PR.
Additional concrete sections cantilever out over the slope of the
terrain.
Geometric openings cut through deliberate interior spaces allowing
light to penetrate and shadows to move throughout each room.
Rough stone walls raise above polished wood floors. A mix of
surfaces and materials combine to create a variety of visually tempting
interior and exterior spaces. By Andrew J Wiener
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Monday, 24 September 2007 |
Many architects struggle when faced with the possibility of compromising their own vision for that of a client’s. Ingo Pott and his practice’s multidisciplinary approach however, invite the minds of creative professionals in hopes they may provide additional stimulus in designs. Every aspect of their body of work centers around the philosophy that cultural exchange generates creativity.
House W considers the changing needs of a growing family by including space to come together and space to spend individually. Pott Architects tend to draw from an eastern mentality with respect to time and place. Both the structure and the surrounding environment are treated as one, and effectively, the design for each private house, including this one, could not be constructed anywhere but it’s present setting. Architect Urlich Hamann effortlessly placed the house in the surrounding environment, and perhaps established a design philosophy carried through in subsequent projects.
One such project, House L, was placed in a wooded site on the slope of a hill. Leaving work and the city behind was the family’s primary objective when choosing this serene environment well outside Berlin. Following through with a commitment to integration in the surrounding, the interior and exterior space blend into one.
From within, large open spaces framed in sweeping glass sheets allow for a heightened awareness of the passing of time. Both subtle and dramatic differences in light as the day gives way to night, as well as the changing of the seasons seamlessly synthesize man and nature. Completed in 2006 by HamannPottArchitekten (now Pott Architecture) and architect, Urlich Hamann, the sustainability of House L provide various ecological considerations as well, including a minimum demand on resources. By Andrew J Weiner.
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Wednesday, 29 August 2007 |
The Nestlé Chocolate factory
in Mexico City's Paseo Tollocan near Toluca has never been a site
anyone went to see for its beauty. It is what is inside that has always
interested chocolate-lovers.
That changed earlier this year when
Michel Rojkind, the 38-year-old principal of Rojkind Arquitectos,
decided that he was not satisfied with the original idea of just
revamping the factory's viewing gallery.
He put together a team
that came up with an entire museum, with a shop, a theatre, and direct
access to the factory as well. The 300-meter-wide scarlet building
cannot go unnoticed by anyone driving the entrance freeway to Toluca.
This
is by far not the first chocolate museum in Mexico, the ancient home of
chocolate. Neither is it the first sweet museum for the
Switzerland-headquartered consumer-product behemoth Nestlé.
However,
it is probably the first chocolate museum ever to be called both a
piece of origami and a shipping container. The corrugated metal look
gives it an air of impermanence and industrial clunk while the bright
color and crazy shape evoke play and fun. What any of this has to do
with chocolate, we are not exactly sure, but we almost managed to fold
a KitKat wrapper to a similar shape. By Tuija Seipell
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Wednesday, 08 August 2007 |
As you’ll no doubt have seen on the pages of the cool hunter over the past few weeks, we’ve been paying homage to wall-art
from all over the world. From bars in Baghdad to clubs in Cairo, we’ve
been trawling buildings looking for the finest illustrations the
art-world has to offer. And for this next one, we had to scurry around
the trendy backstreets of Jingumae in Tokyo to find it.
This
small live in studio and salon has been decked in black paint with a
beautifully elegant mural, depicted from the salon’s own brand to
engulf its two exposed walls. The hand-painted pattern is reminiscent
of an inverted Rorschach inkblot drawing. Yet the symmetrical display
blends perfectly with the centre piece - a woman overwhelmed by the
surrounding plumage. And while the windows are large and severe, they
don’t distort the image. Instead, they perforate the design with
different levels of intensity, revealing larger and smaller details of
what lies beneath.
Inside, the space has been deliberately
simplified, so as to not compete with the eye-catching exterior.
Blackened wood surfaces sit quietly against the enlarged windows,
decorated with cream-coloured blinds. While the theme of masculine and
feminine remains true throughout. The angular planes of the structure
repeat in the harsh lines of the furniture and the effeminate fresco is
imitated by the soft lighting inside. A smart yet simple piece that
respects the duality of the building – somewhere to live and work –
while playfully intertwining the two. By Matt Hussey
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Wednesday, 01 August 2007 |
We don’t know about you, but school wasn’t exactly the most inspiring
of places. Concrete bunkers for buildings, concrete tennis courts for
‘recreation’ and food that tasted, well, like concrete. Yes, school did
sound like a brutalist architects dream. But, Reynar Banham was nowhere
to be seen.
This is much the same story for most schools
under the comprehensive banner. Kids are taught in buildings resembling
cell blocks. The only exceptions coming from the private institutions
Britain is famed for. Education it seems, is taught from books not
experienced by what surrounds you.
Recently however, there has been a change of thought when it comes to school design. De Rijke Marsh Morgan Architects (dRMM) are adding the final touches to their overhaul of Kingsdale School in south east London to dazzling effect.
Rather
than the standard dreary courtyard favoured by modernist architects of
the 1950s – a giant atrium now sits under the worlds largest EFTE
variable roof – which has the ability to be cooled and heated to
insulate in winter and cool in summer. The result is a new space for
dining, assembly and a new auditorium sat inside a giant octahedron. A
vast improvement on the cruel inhuman space that stood there previously.
dRMM have also built a new music hall and gymnasium to accompany the
now iconic central space. In the music hall, windows are etched out of
the wooden interior with the material then used to form tables below.
The effect is a wonderful mix of shapes and rays of light that change
and move with the sun. While the sports hall’s dramatic beams rotate
around an invisible axis resembling an Escher drawing. All achieved
without compromising the space’s purpose as a place of play.
What
this school was designed to do was illustrate the importance of the
spaces people exist in. Education for most of the twentieth century was
bereft of any debate about where children should be taught. Hopefully
Kingsdale School will start to change that. By Matt Hussey
Related Link: The Designer Super Gym Has Arrived
Kids Kool Spaces
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Thursday, 05 July 2007 |
Here at TCH, we strive to bring you the most cutting edge
and inspiring pieces of design. From houses to hotels, walls to wine
racks, there isn’t much we haven't covered. All under the premise,
that if we like something, then, maybe you’ll like it as well.
But, there comes a time when we’re not quite sure. And if we don’t like
it, why are we telling you about it? This new house designed by Antonino Cardillo
has stumped us good and proper. Is it just another vacuous interior
that looks an awful lot like a museum? Or is it a very shrewd
example of how shapes and colours interact when placed next to each
other?
Built on a hillside somewhere in Italy, Cardillo has created a concrete
ellipse that dilates to the east and west. It also just happens
to look like a grey blob squatting on a hill. Inside you’re met with an
enormous curve that sweeps across the central hall, forcing the eye to
look down through the space at the brutal lines of the rest of the
house. A smooth exterior hides the phantasmagoria of shapes inside.
The other rooms are built around the dramatic opening. A kitchen at one
end, the guest room at the other. Up a darkened circular staircase lies
the mezzanine bedroom fitted out with the absolute minimal of
disruption to the form of the interior. It’s all wonderfully
cohesive. But at the same time, you can’t help but think, ‘where do all
the people go?’ The unrelenting stylising says this isn’t a space to be
lived in. Rather, it’s a place to be seen in.
But at the same time, you can’t help but wonder what life must be like
living here. The deep excavations in the outer wall reveal jagged
pockets of the outside world at random. Outside, forests and mountains.
Inside, lifeless concrete forged into geometric shapes. But the clever
thing about the positioning of the windows is, it lets different types
of light to fill different parts of the house. Direct sunlight beams
into the main hall, while refracted light from trees outside filters
into the smaller side windows. Creating instant moods inside according
to the weather outside.
As this is going on, the building remains in its original essence:
colourless or tending to grey. A challenging house that makes you love
it for its ingenuity, but hate it for its formality. Either way, we
can’t decide. By Matt Hussey
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Tuesday, 05 June 2007 |
What started out as a sketch on a napkin at a family wedding, soon
became a submission for Toronto’s Royal Ontario Museum extension. This
extension may well signal the prelude to the city’s cultural
renaissance, and be the first deviation from the boxy buildings of the
existing landscape. It’s about time someone got away from the boxes,
plus this building is not too shabby either.
World-famous architect Daniel Libeskind, who also won the 2002 contest
to replace New York’s World Trade Center, faxed the napkins in. Since
then, the 56,000 square-foot addition has brewed several controversies
amongst Torontonians and architecture buffs - as does any visionary
work, or so they say. While some praise its bold design marked by
angular complexity, others believe it’s an insult to a heritage
monument. Yet others just think it resembles an alien ship from space.
At least it has people talking.
Completion is estimated for 2009, when seven galleries will house
exhibits including the world’s largest known black-star sapphires,
masterworks from Japan and pre-historic dinosaur and mammal specimens.
The new lounge-like, black-and-white-themed fine-dining restaurant
Crystal 5, will give you a peek into the city through the large windows
over fresh, organic meals in biodegradable packaging. They’ve thought
of everything. Since when have places that house historical items had
to resemble medieval, symbolic, majestic, or so-called timeless
buildings? We don’t think they do, and this dawning of the Crystal age
supports our views. By Hima Bativia. Pics by SAM JAVANROUH
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Friday, 25 May 2007 |
Libraries aren’t generally known for amazing architecture but this
incredible one in Italy has us dying to get there amongst the books.
Pictured below, it’s actually an extension on the existing library at
the Pontificial Lateran University, which houses new reading rooms and
an Auditorium. The incredibly stylish space was designed by Rome firm King Roselli,
who took totally fresh approach to the project by employing features
not usually seen in these types of spaces, such as a curved ceiling,
angular stair-casing and vast glass paneling.
The university holds an outstanding collection of books numbering
around 600,000 volumes, some of which date back to the 16th century,
whose subjects for the most part coincide with the principal academic
courses: philosophy, theology and law. The bulk of them are now
deposited in the newly restored compartmentalized underground vaults
equipped with an adequate fire extinguisher system and humidity and
temperature control. Learning has never been so glamorous. By Laura Demasi
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Wednesday, 16 May 2007 |
Corbusier thought they were key to improving the lives of the working
classes; Frank Lloyd Wright said they were the centre of humanity and
Ebenezer Howard believed there were the basis of civilized
society. Yet homes, from a design perspective, are seen as the
bastardized child of urban planning and functionalism. Homogenous
shells of bricks and mortar, born out of a need to contain and protect
from the elements.
But thankfully, some of the utopian zeal found in the writings of the
men above, have started to re-emerge. As you’ve seen in the pages of
the Cool Hunter, we have always believed in the playful and
experimental nature of the ‘home’. Not just a physical dwelling,
but a constituent in the building blocks of human emotion and
experience. That’s why we’re starting a showcase for architects who’ve
designed homes that are out of the box, extraordinary and iconic.
We want those who design them, to send in ideas as a case in point to
the versatility of houses. They can be anything from the abstract
to the symbolic, the whimsical to the prudent. “The home should
be the treasure chest of living,” said Corbusier. Let’s try and
keep it that way. Send your designs/images to
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
. By Matthew Hussey
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Wednesday, 25 April 2007 |
The skeptics that we are, we get a bit suspicious
when talk of big plans starts sounding a bit too promising. Words like
word-class, cutting-edge, sensational and head-turning just don’t do it
for us. But we’d like to make an exception with the dreamers in
Middlesborough (in North East of England) whose grandiose plans to
revive the Middlehaven docks and the redundant waterfront are actually
starting to become reality.
Practically gushing at their own daring, the town leaders unveiled an agreement between the Tees Valley Regeneration
and BioRegional Quintain, one of the UK’s biggest developers. The
agreement will apparently bring £200m of investment to Middlesbrough
plus 1,000 new jobs; 750 homes designed by top architects, shops,
stylish bars, cafés and restaurants and a luxury hotel.
This will also - or so we hope - mean that the master plan of the daring architect Will Alsop will start to materialize in the form of some of the crazy “Meet-the Robinsons-esque” new buildings we’ve seen in the plans.
Alsop
is the man who has designed, for example, the Palestra Building, the
Peckham Library and the Ben Pimlott Building at Goldsmith College – all
in London – Hotel du Department des Bouches du Rhone in Marseille, and
the Sharp Centre for Design in Toronto. He’s known for fun, playful
buildings with strong colors, unusual shapes and angles.
And we
are not the only ones noticing the Middlehaven plans. In March, a team
led by Tees Valley Regeneration, developer BioRegional Quintain and its
architects Studio Egret West
emerged as a winner in the “big urban projects” category at the MIPIM
(Architectural Review) Future Projects Awards, against other
short-listed projects Plot-Scape in Bursa, Turkey and the massive
redevelopment of the King’s Cross Station area in London. By Tuija Seipell
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Saturday, 21 April 2007 |
Camouflage, or cryptic coloration, is something living organisms have
developed over millions of years in order to remain indiscernible from
the surrounding environment.
Buildings, something humans have designed and built for thousands of
years, have never been indiscernible from the surrounding environment.
If anything, our egotistical fascination with conquering nature has
meant our buildings are designed to triumph over its
surroundings. Of course, nature inspires building design. But it
rarely seeks to mimic it.
That is, until this twist on nature landed on The Cool Hunter doorstep.
Set among shrubs and budding fir trees, this home has been encased in a
façade matching the greenery around it. The concealing mesh is
permeable to let the sunshine filter onto the house. But it also allows
the light from inside to radiate out. Allowing the build to sit
anonymously by day, but emerge discretely at night. Blurring the
boundaries between what is human, and what is not.
Inside, the materials are organic and neutral. Wood decking and
paneling cover the inside and outer reaches, while neutral colors blend
rooms into a seamless array of angles and hard wood furnishings. But
perhaps what’s more inspiring, is the building’s impact. The structure,
while inherently human, isn’t trying to dominate the landscape it
resides in. The single-storey house will soon be engulfed as the
surrounding woodland matures, and the materials used to give the house
its shape, will darken and merge with the backdrop. It’s an idea based
on nature – to evolve with nature, and to mimic the concept of
nature. Something in our opinion, there should be more of. By Matthew Hussey
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Wednesday, 18 April 2007 |
The “Chalet” is by far the most famous product of Swiss
architecture. The wooden dwellings with sloping roof and
overhanging eaves, are as much a part of the Swiss landscape as the
Alps themselves. The single storey bunkers traditionally served as
seasonal farms for dairy cattle in the summer months, and haven’t
changed much since these humble beginnings.
But high up on a mountain pass in the Bernese Oberland, a new type of
seasonal home has emerged as a stark contrast to the timber heavy
squats the country is so famed for. With its back turned to the
harsh northerly winds, this contemporary take on the log cabin
straddles the vistas to the south via a huge five meter glass pane that
invites the landscape to fill its vast, open plan spaces.
Swiss planning regulators favor lots of small, pokey windows, this
house is anything but. Rather than shielding its inhabitants from
the outdoors, the house embraces the mountainous terrain, with large
glass doors opening out onto the wooden terrace that appears to float
alongside the house.
With its elegant, concrete slab base, it juts out into the landscape
like a beached vessel. The domineering fireplace runs through the
core of the building, dragging its brutal lines from the basement to
the roof three floors above.
Up the handsome open-tread staircase the bedrooms and bathrooms blend
into a continuous passage that invites you to keep moving. The
large, panoramic windows throughout keep the house light and airy,
while the double insulated walls and thick wood decking keep the cool
temperatures out. The sparse furnishings and sleek lines are a bold
statement that matches the buildings unrelenting exterior. Rather than
cluttering the house with gaudy ornaments and stuffy fixtures, it plays
on the sparse landscape it so elegantly sits in.
Traditional chalets have a tendency to shy away from the landscape,
sealing off its inhabitants to the beauty of the environment it
inhabits. This building however, embraces the countryside with an
unyielding arrogance and swagger. Perching precariously at the
tip of a mountain, it stares boldly at its surroundings. The
interior eschews its contemporary credentials with clean, simple lines
and muted colors. But at the same time, it feels traditional,
homely, and welcoming. A small homage to the portly abodes that
continue to dominate the Swiss landscape. By Matthew Hussey
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