Architecture References - AOL OFFICES / Studio O + A

AOL OFFICES
Palo Alto, USA

Studio O + A
Photos: Jasper Sanidad

Originally published on ArchDaily.

Projects Wanted - Rodrigo da Fonseca Apartment, João Tiago Aguiar

Projects Wanted is an initiative promoted by Void Matters, in which we invite Architecture offices to share their new projects with us. We are open to receive projects from all around the world, regardless of their dimension or typology. Please send us high quality photos (indicating their authors), drawings and descriptive texts in English by e-mail - mc@dimscale.com. It will be our pleasure to help spreading new Architecture concepts and ideas!

RODRIGO DA FONSECA APARTMENT

Lisboa, Portugal
João Tiago Aguiar, Portugal
Year: 2009 - 2011

Photos: FG+SG - Fotografia de Arquitectura

"The Project consisted in the refurbishment of an old attic used as an office in Lisbon’s city centre with generous areas but too compartmented, with very small windows and lack of natural light. It was hard to recognize any nobleness or any exceptional detail in the office as it was when we got the project and transform it into an adequate space to the needs of dwelling nowadays. 

The client’s demand for optimization of all areas resulted in a simple functional scheme that answered today’s needs, although all the restrictions imposed by the existing structural elements.

One more bathroom was added, two small office compartments became into one single suite of much more generous areas and the main open space office room at the bottom became the social area: living/dining room, kitchen and laundry and an extra bathroom.

A fireplace was created to separate the lounge area from the living/dining areas.

In order to counteract the appearance of old and lack of light that the house exhibited, as much natural light as possible was brought to the inside of the apartment by levelling all the windows  with the floor, allowing terraces to pop up along both façades, and at the same time designing natural skylights spread around the house.

Regarding the floor, all the carpet was removed and the original wooden tiles were renovated. When needed, new wood tiles, matching the old ones, were placed in the new spaces, transforming the floor in a single material layer, giving back all the nobility and dignity that was inherent to all the apartments in the neighbourhood. 

In search of the highest possible luminosity, as new materials used we only have mainly white, except the black granite stone both in the suite and in the kitchen and the red painted glass in the social bathroom’s shower.

The cabinets facing the front façade were designed in such a shape and painted in two colours so that when people would come in or leave the house would have two completely opposite scenarios."

                                                                                                                                                                                         - João Tiago Aguiar Arquitectos

Architecture References - AKQA / GBD Architects

AKQA / GBD Architects
Portland, USA

Craig Norman, Agustin Enriquez V
Photos: Peter Eckert

Originally published on ArchDaily.

Projects Wanted, House In Águeda, NU.MA

Projects Wanted is an initiative promoted by Void Matters, in which we invite Architecture offices to share their new projects with us. We are open to receive projects from all around the world, regardless of their dimension or typology. Please send us high quality photos (indicating their authors), drawings and descriptive texts in English by e-mail - mc@dimscale.com. It will be our pleasure to help spreading new Architecture concepts and ideas!

HOUSE IN ÁGUEDA

Portugal
NU.MA, Portugal
Year: 2010 - 2014

Photos: Ivo Tavares Studio


The House in Águeda is inserted in a rural area which is characterised by a low-density housing area. The irregularity of the terrain conditioned the project regarding to its volume and program.
Taking into account the altimetric and planimetric features of the terrain, including its pronounced slope, the projects re-caracterize the terrain, and establish a platform for the house implementation. Two different acesses were constructed: one for the cars and another for the pedestrians, these being the link between the entrance to the terrain and to the house.

Inside, it was decided to distribute radically the floors by function. Therefore, the service and social areas (such as, WC, office, kitchen, dining/living room) are located at the entrance level (level 0). At this floor it was created different gaps / apertures to promote some shading (at living/dining room) and rain protection areas (outdoor lobby).

The private area of the house, is located at 1st level, and accommodates the bedrooms and sanitary facilities. At this floor there are also some gaps / apertures, working as exterior platforms (terraces) to support the bedrooms and creating some private zones in terms of exposure to the exterior.
These gaps / apertures / terraces allowed the dissimulation of the initial shape of the house, which was rectangular, making it an organic volume.

Level 0 is directly connected to the lower level of the terrain, and level 1 is connected with the higher level of the terrain. Such exercise was sought to dissimulate the service areas, removing its visual importance and locating these areas at the back side of the house, being “buried” on the terrain.

                                                                                                                                                                                         - NU.MA

         

Projects Wanted, Apartment Renovation VdC01, A2OFFICE

Projects Wanted, Apartment Renovation VdC01, A2OFFICE
Projects Wanted is an initiative promoted by Void Matters, in which we invite Architecture offices to share their new projects with us. We are open to receive projects from all around the world, regardless of their dimension or typology. Please send us high quality photos (indicating their authors), drawings and descriptive texts in English by e-mail - mc@dimscale.com. It will be our pleasure to help spreading new Architecture concepts and ideas!

Apartment Renovation VdC01

Porto, Portugal

A2OFFICE, Portugal

Year: 2012

Photos: © AL.MA Fotografia | Alexandra Marques

"This intervention was made in an apartment located in a rooftop penthouse, with 18 years old, with a dark and heavy interior. It was asked to do the best intervention possible spending a small budget, previously defined. 

Two decades ago, the initial design did not anticipate the need for a toilet placed in the social area of the home to serve the visitors and the daily use. It was therefore necessary to perform both, a division and a multiplication (depending on the point of view): one of the toilets was divided into two, one of the toilets has led to two. And with this need, a new door entered in the house: an event!

Moreover, the apartment was already pretty well divided, social and private areas of the house were hierarchically organized. Some existing residual spaces were transformed into storage lockers, and mirrors were placed to increase the sense of visual space. 

All existing carpentry was painted white. All of toilet ceramics have been reused in an economic way: the black and beige colors gave rise to the dominant painted white; the ceilings have been designed with openings that the imagination does believe that are made of natural light.

The ceramic floor in the existing social areas of the house was all covered and homogenized with white cork plates. This new material covered entrance hall, kitchen, laundry, pantry, living room and ended on the walls of the new toilet. In the area of the bedrooms remained the existing floor.

The exterior balcony and terrace with about 110m2 of floor area were redesigned. It was used natural wood, that brought it´s smell and comfort. The 270º view did the rest."

                                                                                                                                -A2OFFICE