Architecture

South Yarra House

Architects: LSA Architects
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Photography: UA Creative

A broad mix of architectural styles characterizes this densely populated South Yarra Street, from traditional pitched-roof weatherboard terraces to flat-roofed rendered block-work apartment buildings. Narrow buildings sit tightly side-by-side along the one-way street. The project aimed to provide a residence that makes a statement within the eclectic streetscape, capturing your gaze and holding your attention as you approach, enter and explore the home. Light-filled spacious internal spaces maintain strong connections to the exterior of the building and the home’s multiple courtyards, blurring internal/external boundaries.

The methodology employed to meet these aims included implementing voluminous forms, building to the site perimeter wherever possible, installing glazing to multiple and varied planes, and applying color to engage the viewer and provide continuity and connection between internal and external spaces. An orange ‘box’ that is the first floor can be observed from as far away as the end of the street. Upon entering the house, the white ceiling abruptly gives way to the overhead insertion of this form, reminding the viewer of their connection with the colored volume. Arched glazing either side of the dining area physically separates interior from exterior, yet enables views of the orange-clad ceiling wrapping to form the external walls of the first floor, increasing connection to the exterior and the building as a whole.

Lily Street House

Architects: ODR Architects and LifeSpaceJourney

Location: Melbourne, Australia

Floor Area: 1,399 Sq. ft.

Photography: Derek Swalwell

The client asked for an architectural box in an interesting site in the western suburbs of Melbourne; however, ODR Architects devised a response that shows consideration for context, history, climate, materials, urbanism and program.

The proposal for the new house embraced the materiality and the fabric of the laneway. We looked at square footage in a wider context, and proposed an elevated recycled corrugated shipping container with zero setbacks, reminiscent of the docks that have such a strong presence in the area. However, the client and council had reservations about the corrugated iron, with the council asking the architects to ignore the sheds, setbacks and fences of the immediate surrounds and requesting a roof. This did not meet the client’s expectations and we therefore needed to reconsider the design.

In the finished design, the house exterior turns its back on the context. There are no obvious windows, no articulation, no surveillance, just a foreign object in a laneway. Internally, the courtyard forms the centerpiece. The internal spaces revolve around this space, which heats and cools the space as well as providing separation in the plan. It also unifies function. The residents circulate around it, cook in it, and breathe through it. Opening the doors changes the environment inside. It also serves as a reminder of the surroundings – the two conditions juxtapose each other, giving validation to both. We have also allowed the outside world to engage through transparency and blurred moments of living.

Penthouse in Downtown Montreal

Interior Designer: René Desjardins

Location: Montreal, Canada

Floor Area: 3,300 sq. ft.

Photography: Andre Doyon

“The client, after spending many years in a large home on Ile-des-Sœurs, had taken an apartment with a panoramic view of downtown Montreal, Mount Royal and the St. Lawrence River. From the start, it seemed to me that this magnificent view – one of the best in Montreal – should become the focus of the project. The client wanted to live in a bright, warm loft-style apartment. I suggested a space much like the large contemporary lofts of Manhattan or Los Angeles, a loft that would speak of calm and comfort yet look out over the continually changing showcase of the city.”

Since the building was still under construction, anything was possible. The space consisted of a large 3,300 sq. ft. unit assembled from two penthouses on the 23rd floor. As a point of departure, space intended for a corridor to one of the penthouses could now be used to house the mechanical and electrical systems. This meant that the apartment could take the form of a great pure rectangle spanning across the full length of the building, with full-height windows on the North, East and West sides that would provide exceptional natural light.

The apartment comprises two zones: on one side, the shared areas: the living room, dining room and kitchen as well as a living area/home theatre; and on the other, the private quarters of the client and his son. Detailed work began on the interior envelope, playing with different coatings and colors for the volumes, using whites and shades of grey and brown to create a pared-down, warm environment.

The very high ceilings were lowered slightly to accommodate lighting fixtures and conceal the electrical controls for the window coverings. Each recessed lighting fixture has two spots, multiplying the lighting possibilities with a minimum of means. Window treatments received particular attention. Sheets of fabric combining natural fibres with threads of stainless steel – completely invisible when raised – descend from the ceiling at the touch of a button to temper the light and preserve privacy. In order to maintain the spirit of a loft, the structural columns were simply sanded down and painted in the same shades and finishes as the walls.

The Bertolini House

Architects: Studio Peralelo

Location: Bento Gonçalves , Brazil

Floor Area: 2610 sq. ft.

Photography: Albert Lim

The house is located in the city of Bento Gonçalves, the mountainous region of Rio Grande do Sul – Brazil, in an area that originally was part of a rural site. The proposal was developed for a couple that was eventually expecting to have three children. The land which is almost a square 32 x 30 meters has flat topography broken by a smooth declivity in the North limit. Next to that natural irregularity, a set of Araucarias Trees, a native species of the mountain region configures the landscape.

The house is a rectangular shape with reinforced concrete separated from the ground in a smooth unevenness of 0.90 meters. The program is organized in two levels. The elevated ground floor is the “L” shaped terrace which conforms and gives access and integration to the garden. Complementing the program, a little house shelters the wood oven, baths and the volume of the water tank. The South façade facing the street establishes the rhythm of the openings to the degree of privacy in the different sectors: total permeability in the access controlled in the social area and hermetic in the intimate one. The North face takes advantage of the best views with glass panels that establishes the connection of the interior with the garden.

The materials used were reinforced concrete, brick wall, and aluminum windows with thermo-acoustic glass and metallic sliding bars. The space disposition of the program is synthesized by the stripe moved away from the ground which obtains new points of view over the landscape thus respecting its scale with minimum interference for the city.

Willow Hills House

Architect: ODOS Architects

Photography: Ros kavanagh

This house is in essence a simple bold sculptural form which sits at the foot of a steep escarpment in the Wicklow hills. It is a two storey house with vehicular and pedestrian access from the Bray Road. Accommodation is comprised of a two car garage, boiler room, wc and utility at ground floor level and open plan living, kitchen, dining areas with 3 bedrooms (master ensuite), study and family bathroom at first floor level. This house replaces a derelict 1940’s single storey cottage (with associated out houses) which previously existed on the site.

The building is entered on foot at first floor level via a long stepped processional route to the front of the building. The façade to this stepped approach has been purposely left blank to focus the entrant to the point of entry whilst also weighting the propped cantilever appropriately. At entry level a hallway guides you to the open plan living kitchen and dining areas. These areas are contained within a propped cantilevered volume, which hovers above the landscape below. A forest of red columns has been inserted below the cantilever, which conceptually grow out of the hillside. These columns ‘guard’ a pedestrian route, which leads you under the cantilever to the rear garden and living room deck at first floor level. Along this route one truly experiences the sheerness of the escarpment above.

Internally the hallway at main entry level has been conceived as an “internal street” the dimensions of which widen to the more public aspects of the plan and diminish along the points of entry to private bedrooms and bathrooms. A study at main entry level offers a taste of the internal experience prior to entry. The roofscape is peppered with rooflights in an attempt to engage the user with the steep escarpment to the rear of the house. This affords the occupant vertical views of sky and foliage from the most private spaces within the house.

Press Release: The Herge Museum

Architect: Christain De Portzamparc

Photographer: Nicholas Borel

Over the years, Hergé’s artistic output has become established as a work of distinction.

The idea of a museum had been germinating from as far back as 1979, while he was still alive.

The goal was always to make Hergé’s myriad creations known to the wider public. To do justice to such an important project, a lot of time and careful reflection was necessary. The main task was to strike the right balance between the nuances of a complex reality and the legendary status that was starting to develop around the man and his creation. In 1986, three years after the artist passed away, the idea took shape in the form of the Hergé Foundation.

From the start of the new millennium, this organisation (now renamed Studios Hergé) has worked tirelessly to identify and catalogue the most suitable elements for exhibition in a museum consecrated to Hergé. On 10 January 2001, Tintin’s ‘birthday’, the important announcement was made: the Hergé Museum was to be built in Louvain-la-Neuve, a recently created university town, less than 30 kilometres from Brussels.

Eight years later and the dream came true. The Hergé Museum opens its doors at the start of June 2009, two years after the first stone was laid on 22 May 2007, the artist’s birthday. Expectations are as high as the project is ambitious. A well-known architect was chosen to bring the industrious plans to fruition: the Frenchman Christian de Portzamparc. In recognition of his achievements, in 1994 he was awarded the Pritzker Prize, the most prestigious accolade in international architecture.

De Portzamparc has used all his skills in building design to integrate the principals of Hergé’s work, superbly highlighting the unique features of the latter’s art, which led to his becoming the founder and master of the clear line technique. Tintin first saw the light of day on 10 January 1929, in the pages of Le Petit Vingtième, the weekly children’s supplement to the daily paper, Le XXe Siècle. The Adventures of Tintin are still as fresh and exciting today as they have ever been, inspiring artists, writers, and directors in both the theatre and cinema. Tintin embodies timeless values that appeal to humankind worldwide. His captivating escapades are the result of a unique combination of gripping narratives, sublime ‘clear-line’ graphics and universal themes.