Daycare Center in Ayamonte

Daycare Center in Ayamonte. The nursery bends and turns to meet the plunged plane of the park eight feet below the road, establishing a relationship of maximum transparency and complementarity with the degraded park inducing its recovery. This notion of nexus that joins different links of the public spaces suggests slow transitions between public spaces and the building interior, by inserting two cushion-spaces that allow a paused access through the north ramp and the deep south porch.  

A public building should be able to not have doors. We think these buildings as fragments technified network connected public spaces throughout the city, whilst retaining its membership of the same nature as the streets, squares and gardens. From this discussion we propose that the Education Center will become a transit device and conciliation between the city and the park where it lies abandoned, giving meaning to it as a place to play and be for the neighbors and children.

The nursery bends and turns to meet the plane plunged park eight feet below the road, establishing a relationship of maximum transparency and complementarity with the park gradient and inducing it to recover. This notion of nexus that links different chains of public space suggests slow transitions between public space and the interior of the building, by inserting two spaces that allow access mattress leisurely through the north ramp and the deep south porch, dilute the boundary between inside and outside the nursery and reconcile public and private.

Type                      : Educational

Location                : Calle de Carlos Cano                                   
                                 Ayamonte, 21400 
                                 Spain

Building status     : built in 2005

Building area        : 1117 m2

A project by          : Sol89

Architecture, Interior, Masterplan

Het zwarte huis (the black house)

Het zwarte huis (the black house). This site in the midst of historical buildings is now occupied by ‘Het Zwarte Huis’ (The Black House), a complex containing six apartments with semi-underground parking and the new premises of Bakers Architecten.

The streetscape is characterized by heterogeneous, lot-by-lot development with distinctive corner buildings. Het Zwarte Huis is a contemporary addition to the existing urban fabric, in which the notion of ‘living above work’ has been accentuated by placing the dwellings in a solid volume on top of a glazed podium. Lange Nieuwstraat begins at Domplein and runs via a gentle curve to the Centraal Museum. This unique vantage point is fully exploited with a large bay window. 

An internal courtyard has been created by placing the black volume parallel to the Lange Nieuwstraat. The semi-underground car park is reached via a car parking lift, while a communal staircase leads to the walkways along which the apartments are situated. The wide walkways also serve as outdoor space for the dwellings. Het Zwarte Huis was constructed using 55-centimetre-long ‘Kolumba’ bricks. The apartments facing Vrouwjuttenstraat have a white rendered facade. 

Type                   : Commercial - Office

Location            : Lange Nieuwstraat 109                                         Utrecht, 3512PG Netherlands

Building status : built in 2010

Site type           : urban

Building area   : 1100 m2

A project by     : Bakers Architecten

Architecture, Interior, Urban Design

Rouen Convention Center

Architecture Design: Rouen Convention Center. Located in the ancient commercial harbor of Rouen (France), the project focuses on the extension of an old storage hangar between the railroad tracks and the Seine River, allowing it to house an auditorium and exhibit spaces.

In the middle of the building, a white lattice of lacquered steel surrounds an empty space occupied by a three-storey double staircase. This large mashrabiya captures and diffracts light coming from bay windows above and around it, radiating bursts of light and shadow.  Such kinetic intensity gives the space a gentle monumentality. At night, the lattice becomes a lantern, emerging from the lowest floor beneath the hangar’s frame.

The auditorium sits partially beneath the old hangar, a concrete structure independent of the existing building frame. The space conveys a sense of appeasement, with white floors, walls, ceilings and furnishing… A muted ambiance that is completed by a carpet and acoustic textiles. The surprise lies at the end of the room, however, when the back wall of the stage opens, and the harbor is invited to join the conversation – to a greater or lesser degree, depending on the rotation of the vertical blinds.

Type                    : Public -   Community Center

Location             : Rouen, France

Building status   : built in 2010

A project by       : Bigoni-Moretmard Architectes

                             Architecture, Interior

Shaft House, Canada

Architecture Houses: Shaft House, Canada. Shaft House encourages the potentiality of urban-regeneration and aesthetic rejuvenation through low-cost building strategies. This house exists in constant negotiation between the vernacular and the contemporary.  Shaft House attains the objective of creating an economically efficient, sustainable and responsive housing design through function and innovation.

The organic characteristics of the materials respond to the social context of the building. As the building ages, the rusted steel and untreated wood age along with it and the house eventually blends into the vernacular oeuvre of the neighboring dwellings. The materials also provide efficiency and sustainability through maintaining ideal lighting situations and heating conditions. This house -as an active sustainable strategy- is equipped with a high velocity HVAC system which enables an equal distribution of heat throughout the house in addition to a significantly lesser consumption of energy. Materials employed (rusted steel, aluminum, and untreated wood) are more sustainable than those used traditionally (brick, shingle, and stone, etc.) 

The economical aspect of the project enables and inspires potential builders and developers to experiment with design and to implement innovative architectural strategies in development of low-cost housing solutions; given that the construction cost of this project is equal to, if not less than, the “readymade” designs set as the standard of housing in our neighborhoods.

Location               : Toronto, Canada

Building status     : built in 2010

Site type               : suburban

Type                     : Residential - Single family residence

A project by         : Urbanscape Group

                               Architecture

Newton Suites, Singapore

Newton Suites, Singapore. This 36-storey development is a study in environmental solutions to tropical high-rise living. The design integrates several sustainable devices into a contemporary architectural composition, creating a sustainable, contemporary addition to the city skyline. The building sits at the edge of a high-rise zone and fronts a height-controlled area that affords expansive views of the central nature reserves; a rare luxury in densely built Singapore. The horizontal, metal expanded mesh sunshading screens the strong tropical sunlight.

Newton Suites, Singapore

The angled mesh prevents insolation while permitting visual connection to the ground. The angled expanded mesh changes appearance with viewpoint, appearing anywhere between solid and transparent. Protruding sky gardens and balconies combined with sunshading screens create outdoor living environments that are sheltered with ample cross-ventilation due to its elevated location and are particularly suited for the hot tropical climate. The elevated building also affords a high volume drop-off on the ground level with lush landscaping flowing from the external under the building footprint for a larger landscaped area. 

Residential units are stacked 4 per floor with habitable balconies treated as outdoor living rooms orientated towards views of the nature reserve and city centre. Despite the stacked layout of the units, ample cross-ventilation from the balcony front through the services areas at the rear coupled with the passive environmental façade features ensure that the units are conducive for tropical living without depending on mechanical cooling. Creeper screens are applied to otherwise blank walls to create visual delight, absorb sunlight and carbon and create oxygen in the dense environment.

Newton Suites, Singapore

Most available horizontal and vertical surfaces are landscaped; creating an area of landscaping that is 130% (110% planted) of the total site.  Trees cover the carpark, project from the skygardens at every 4 levels and crown the building at the penthouse roof decks. The carpark roof houses a substantial clubhouse with gym, steam room, party areas and 25m swimming pool with a glass overflow edge.

White Paint and Other White Necessities

I have to admit a secret of mine...I am a white SNOB - okay now you know my innermost secret. I use only white candles, white dishes, white towels, white flowers (although I have been known to buy colored tulips), and white sheets. Nothing is more classic than white. White dishes set off the food on them perfectly. I cannot have a good sleep on anything other than white sheets, and white candles and white towels are absolute.

In interiors I love how white highlights good architecture, and any object in the room that has "good bones." White walls are a good backdrop for objects d' art and paintings that are placed in the room - white walls give focus to the lines of the items that are juxtaposed in front of them. 

Painting a room white can make it have surprising depth. When I design an all-white room I use several different shades of white to bring out the architectural details, or I layer the space with strong forms in different tones and textures of white and then use some strong color contrasts to outline and bring the white into focus. My all time favorite white color is - Benjamin Moore paint Cloud White. It is a very soft white and easy to live with. It has a chameleon effect - taking on the colors of what is set next to it and changing in tone at various times of the day. Not every white is snow white. Try using whites tinted with: ivory, cream, antique white, and palest beige, blue and yellow. An interesting fact on the popularity of white is that Benjamin Moore has over 140 whites to choose from. 

To maximize the light in a room I chose a paint with a semigloss finish rather than the latex matte finish more usual on walls. The "chalkier" matte finish absorbs light; the semi-gloss is more reflective.

Some of my favorite whites I use are are from Benjamin Moore: Cloud White, Simply White, Ballet White, White Dove, White Linen and Designer White.

 
 
   
  
  
Photo Credits

1, 2 MLK Studio via All the Best 3 JK Hotel Milan 4 David Schefer 5 Helen Hennie 6 Trevor Tondro 7 ,8,9 Jennifer Post 10 Ptithabibi Morocco, Towels

PATRICIA GRAY INC is an award winning interior design firm writing about lifestyle and
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Green Living With "INDAWO KITCHEN"

Green Living With "INDAWO KITCHEN". Environmentally friendly products (green products), today more and more in demand by industries and consumers. PT. Charisma Indawo Internusa is a company engaged dibidng interior one of its products in the form of a kitchen (kitchen set) which apply the materials to the products environmentally friendly.

This is because Indawo concern for the environment in harmony with its commitment to the customers to always provide a healthy and safe products. As a member of the Green Building Council of Indonesia (GBCI), Indawo only use environmentally friendly materials and also minimize carbon emissions in each production process.

In this sophisticated age, product design is not only supported by the latest technology that can accommodate the desires and lifestyle of consumers but also be environmentally friendly (green products). For that Indawo applying it into a kitchen concept system that uses 100% chemical-free of urea formaldehyde and using paints, adhesives and coatings which contain low or no VOC (volatile organic compounds). For that Indawo choose MDF (Medium Density Fiber) as the basic material products made from wood fibers that are 100% recyclable, comes from the forest industry and does not contain the chemical urea formaldehyde. MDF is an environmentally friendly product certified by SFC (Forest Stewardship Council). This option means reducing consumption of tropical rain forest wood which is currently the 'bald'. In addition, trees in the forest industry is more efficient because the wood from each part can be processed into pulp and then molded into sheets. Another advantage of the MDF is a high population density so that termite resistant and has a smooth and solid surfaces for finishing coated by the prevention of any kind. This material does not contain formaldehyde which normally causes sore eyes.

For countertop, choose Solid Surface Indawo trademark SUNRAY, made of modified acrylic which is not toxic. SUNRAY Solid Surface is not porous, making it unable to be contaminated with household chemicals and the smell is not good and certainly protected from bacteria and fungi as well as easy to look like new after the use of a specific period only with re-polished. Applications solid surface is also practical and flexible to follow any desired shape in kitchen design. Indawo also wear impragnated melamine paper as lining the inside of his kitchen cabinet.

For finishing materials, Indawo choose high-quality materials, such as Hight Pressure Laminate (HPL) is made from layers of kraft paper impregnated with phenolic resin and with a decorative paper impregnated with melamine resin. Made with high pressure and temperature, this material has high durability against shock, water and heat and is very easy for maintenance. Available with a wide selection of colors, both solid colors, wood pattern, and various textures.

Also Indawo have a superior product finishing with a very high level of gloss. The term used is finishing High-Gloss. Finishing Indawo polymer is a synthetic compound that has been through many years of research to create a panel with the coated side is perfect. With a smooth surface and high gloss, High-Gloss gives a modern touch to the furniture. because the surface of the flat / flat surfaces such as glass and thickness up to 19mm, finishing High-Gloss Indawo have a high resistance to water, which dipped into the water no matter how long it will not damage the panel was finishing High-Gloss. The possibility of unlimited color choices, you can choose from a variety of standard colors are available, or also can create their own colors to your liking.

Not only that, Indawo also use the Open-Pore Finishing in its application, the Open Pore Indawo is attached with a sheet of MDF wood veneer on the slice is called later in finishing with a specific technique with a touch of unfinished.

By finishing in the top end Indawo customers who will enjoy it all. This is the convenience, comfort, security and luxury provided by us to be more satisfied Indawo nenikmati life.

Source                       : ASRI Magazine
Company Address : PT. INDAWO KHARISMA INTERNUSA
                                    1. Jalan Raya No. In Radio. 15
                                        South Jakarta 12140
                                    2. Showcase
                                        Sogo (Home Furnishing)
                                        Central Park 2nd Floor Jakarta