Bishan Community Library, Singapore
The inspiration for the treehouse was formed from the concept stage of the design, with the aim of creating a learning environment through a journey of discovery and play. The use of skylights, latticework and tinted glass transforms the incoming daylight into a variety of tones and colors, creating an interesting dappled effect in the library, as if the light were passing through the branches and leaves of the trees. The “pod” structure cantilevers out from the main façade, creating a distinctive charm on the exterior skin and intimate alcoves on the interior. The library stands out from the surrounding mixed-use neighborhood and is intended to arouse curiosity within the community. The library’s logistical area is concentrated in a solid core tube at the west elevation, which also shades the building from the harsh evening sun. A gentle ramp directs people from the street level up through the atrium into the book collection area, which also serves as an effective route for dispersing large crowds. To exploit the potential for noise insulation, the children’s area is located in the basement, forming a subterranean cavern-like area where children can let their imaginations run wild.
Architectural design by National Design Centre, Singapore
Singaporean architect Soo K. Chan, founder of SCDA Architects, is the lead designer of the National Design Centre (NDC). Located in Singapore’s Peshawar entertainment district, the National Design Centre (NDC) integrates art, culture and education, providing an exemplary showcase to encourage innovation and design and to promote Singapore’s design culture, with an in-house lecture hall, public exhibition space and other facilities.
One of Singapore’s most acclaimed architects, Soo K. Chan has reactivated the former convent and church building at 111 Middle Road into a cohesive place.
Soo K. Chan inserted four interlocking translucent perforated metal skin traffic “boxes” into the building’s large square atrium, which connect public and private areas, becoming a place that respects the original space and invigorates it, allowing it to become a place of cohesion. A glowing new initiative. The architects mentioned that they wanted to create a large space that integrates the interior and exterior courtyards while preserving the building. Adding a layer of transparent skylights on top of the courtyard gives the outdoor courtyard an interior character, while essential functional elements such as the fire staircase are also turned into a design element through a subtle touch. Inside, the abundance of rotating walls also changes the nature of the space, creating more exhibition space.
Gaudi Crypt, Palacio Guelph, Barcelona
Gaudi’s basement is a short 20-minute train ride from Barcelona and is part of the famous building of the Palazzo Guel, built by Gaudi in 1888 and the work that established Gaudi as a great creator of ambient spaces. Many believe that Gaudi’s basement was the experimental studio Gaudi used to tackle the famous Holy Family Church. Architectural photographer david cardelús had the opportunity to explore this interesting place and show the building’s relationship to the surrounding landscape through his lens. His interior photographs attempt to interpret the various forms that make up the building, including the leaning columns, the inverted curved arches, the hyperbolic paraboloid walls and the incredible intricacy of the stone and brick roof structure of the “crypt”.
Architectural design of a funeral home on the outskirts of Zaragoza, Spain
The funeral home, designed by Juan Carlos Salas, is located in a pine forest on the outskirts of Zaragoza, Spain. The entire building is made of concrete, with a sloping chimney that looks like a chimney reaching up into the air, with openings at the top and metal shutters installed to allow light to flow into the building and warm the otherwise small, cold interior. The building seems to have grown out of the ground, as if it were a place where people say their last goodbyes to their friends and relatives who have passed away. The building is purposefully oriented towards the sun, which allows sunlight to enter the room, and the shutters on top of the chimney create a change of light and shadow, and the chimney is a poetic presence in the space, creating a mood of time passing slowly. The entire building is constructed of white concrete and detailed with metal accents.
Pacific Residence, Queensland, Australia
Pacific Island encourages sustainable housing within the coastal villages of the Tweed Coast, highlighted by building platforms made of natural materials, classical design features, sustainable accommodation and a link to its perfect waterfront installation.
There is a clear synergy between all the elements to provide truly habitable, charming and quirky houses. Each element has been carefully chosen to be sustainable in the long term.
The sustainable houses are located on a 603m2 north-facing area and their design and orientation allows the occupants to reduce utility costs through passive heating and cooling.
This house features a soaring sloping roof with exposed rafters, rustic wood beams, a 30-degree pitched tip roof, and high shutters to clear hot air during the summer months.
Colorful and lively bank building design
With its dark marble floors, pillars wrapped in stone, floor-to-ceiling windows and neatly ordered counters, the bank’s décor is all a breath of cool color, revealing majesty, transparency and security with hard materials and transparent windows, as if it couldn’t convince people to take the money in their bags and deposit it in the bank without it.
This is the image of the old bank building and the role of the bank is changing, and what it should look like is changing with it.
The Japanese bank Sugamo Shinkin loves colorful and interesting architectural designs, and they asked French designer Emmanuelle Moureaux to design several lively banks using her special color scheme.
The walls of the Tokyo branch, which is the fourth one they have worked on together, are made up of a series of tessellated blocks, which undulate and are painted in more than ten different colors, some on the front and some on the sides, as if jumping into view.
The wall actually has 4 different depths, rising and falling like a music box, with windows installed in the recessed areas.
Twelve of the protruding square boxes were planted with seasonal greenery, including lavender and marigolds, and an olive tree was planted next to them, forming a small garden. The sunlight shining through the plants brings a more vivid nature into the room, giving it more life than a bank of decorative potted plants. It is through the colors and plants that the designers wanted to attract the people around them and make them feel happy.
Inside the bank, the lively interior design continues, with white walls dotted with gradient colours and colourful chairs on the floor, creating a relaxed and cheerful atmosphere.
Emmanuelle Moureaux has been living in Tokyo since 1996 and founded the studio “emmanuelle Moureaux architecture + design” in 2003. She created the concept of “shikiri”, to divide space using colors, which are not just painted on surfaces, but can create new three-dimensional spaces. She likes to use this rainbow-like combination in her displays and interiors.
Selgas Cano Studio Architecture
Selgas Cano’s architectural studio in Madrid is very special, the building is half buried underground and is made of trees, plants, acrylic plastic, plexiglass, wood, concrete and other materials. The building is surrounded by dense woods, like a stationery box on the ground, as the building is half buried in the ground, people’s view is very close to the horizon, you will feel strongly close to the earth. The interior of the building is light and bright, with bright green colors that blend in with the jungle environment outside, and at night when the interior is lit up in orange, the building looks like a mysterious little tent floating in a clearing full of leaves!
Design for the architectural renovation of Novoperedelkino metro station
More than 300,000 Moscow citizens have chosen U-R-A｜United Riga Architects for the redesign of the Novoperedelkino metro station. In order to restore the tradition of the unique design of the Moscow metro station, the winning scheme illuminated the station with a series of back-lit metal panels with a Moscow-style openwork pattern. “The Novoperedelkino region is known for its unique forest, and this is best expressed through the decoration of the metro pavilions – the laser-cut patterns on the glass evoke the pine and birch trees in the forest, and the LED backlighting makes the engravings shine. It makes you feel as if you are in the middle of a forest,” said U-R-A Architects in a press release. “For ease of maintenance, we chose small 60cm x 60cm panelling as the constituent material for the light box. The panelling can be opened like a leaf and the RGB coloured LEDs in the light box can be changed quickly and easily.” In this way, it will be possible to change the colour of the panelling lighting.U-R-A Architects and Evgeny Leonov will work together with the organisers of the competition – the Moscow city government and the metro management – to put the design into practice in Novoperedelkino.
The project proves that a sustainable house can be built at the price of a standard house.
The house is self-contained with heating and cooling systems and is comfortable and welcoming all year round. It was also used as a case study to educate the public and the house building industry about passive design and the benefits of such design.
The solar power system compensates for the energy consumed in running the machinery and the inspection system provides hard evidence of the building’s performance, so the benefits of sustainable design can be quantified. The building is designed to be drought tolerant, thus reducing dependence on resources.
If you’re interested in ground design, check out our blog-Floor Design