Top 10 stone projects of 2020

1. Loenen Pavilion by KAAN Architecten 

KAAN Architecten was commissioned by the Netherlands War Graves Foundation (Oorlogsgravenstichting) to design a multifunctional building commemorating the Dutch victims during the Second World War and more recent international conflicts, in Loenen near Apeldoorn. Harmoniously blending with the surrounding forest, the building is a layered and connecting element between the existing Loenen National War Cemetery and the new National Veterans Cemetery. 

2. House in a Park by Think Architecture AG

This park-like plot comprises a collection of single-story, freely arranged spaces. The individual structures are held together by a continuous roof edge, which creates a transition with the undulating roof landscape. The volumes take their inspiration and height from the natural contours of the area and integrate themselves harmoniously into the verdant environment. This basic meandering shape disguises the actual size of the house, and its projections and recesses allow it to merge with the landscape of the surrounding parkland.

3. Forum Groningen by NL Architects

NL Architects (Amsterdam) designed the Forum Building. Their design was selected in 2007 by city residents and a professional jury out of seven designs by international architectural firms. With its sharp lines, the striking building stands out against the historic city centre like a modern monolith. The building is 45 meters high and has ten floors and a rooftop terrace. The building consists of two 'towers', a West and an East tower, which are connected by escalators that run criss-cross through the building.

4. Galleria in Gwanggyo by OMA 

The Galleria is Korea’s first and largest upscale department store franchise founded in the 1970s, and has remained at the forefront of the premium retail market in the country since then. The store in Gwanggyo—a new town just south of Seoul—is the sixth branch of Galleria. Located at the center of this young urban development surrounded by tall residential towers, the Galleria’s stone-like appearance makes it a natural point of gravity for public life in Gwanggyo.

5. Kunsthaus Zürich by David Chipperfield Architects

The new Kunsthaus Zürich extension, designed by David Chipperfield Architects Berlin, expands the existing Kunsthaus museum, situated between the Grossmünster church and the university. The Kunsthaus Zürich now represents the largest art museum in Switzerland, comprising four buildings from different eras – the Moser building (1910), the Pfister building (1958), the Müller building (1976) and now the Chipperfield extension (2020). The new freestanding building houses the collection of classic modernism, the Bührle collection, temporary exhibitions and art from 1960 onwards.

6. Office 543 by Charged Voids 

The concept was primarily a response to the narrow & small site located on one of busiest roads of Mohali (a satellite town of Chandigarh).  The central idea was to design a closed box opening mostly skywards but with careful gaps looking into the street and using the courtyard as a buffer between the exterior & the interior. The strong & clear geometry of intersecting lines & an ellipse resolve a complex brief and create the requisite spatial sequence. The idea was to utilize the small site by building the bare Essential number of elements with each element achieving its maximum efficacy.

7. Renovation Rinascente headquarters in Turin by act_romegialli

The project involves the renovation of the current street front of the La Rinascente headquarters i n Turin on via Lagrange 15, the redesign of the commercial ground floor and the internal vertical connections (escalators). The client's request: to obtain a new architectural identity of the current building, through the redesign of the facade/perspective on via Lagrange, the reconfiguration of the current portico, windows and entrances to obtain a new “architectural ensemble”. The functional requirement premised by the client was to replace the transparent glass front with an opaque one, without openings, essential to optimize the commercial functional needs of the internal space and at the same time to give the LaR Torino headquarters a new and more marked identity.

8. Marsotto showroom in Brera by Nendo 

A showroom in Milan’s Brera district for the marble manufacturer Marsotto. Replete with ground and basement levels, it exhibits marble furniture, sundries, and samples of processed materials. In the entrance space on the first floor, a mesh-like partition made of marble covers the stair case in front. It consists of two layers of marble 10 mm thick with 65 mm wide dots perforation, sandwiched between glass sheets. 

9. READY2WEAR / Casa Calmoso by LABOTORY

Unexpansive but well-fitting clothes present both of comfortableness and happiness. READY2WEAR desires to provide well-made clothes, so it sticks to reasonable price and high quality for fashion, and suggests uncommon sensitive style through the brand’s own design and production. While having a meeting with client, we brought the word ‘Casa calmoso’ which has the meaning of “tranquil and calm house.” The space of READY2WEAR started with this sense of the word.

10. Santana House by Manuel Cervantes Estudio

Valle Santana  has been carefully placed on its site and within the natural context. From the outset, the design sought to take full advantage of the property’s proportions and open spaces. Using one of the existing trees as the heart of an entry courtyard, a space is created for people to come together; it also connects to the bedrooms and utility areas, with open views onto the woods from every living area. The house has an exposed wooden structure, with a design based on a series of repeated frames and a single pitch and roof, and which creates the various areas. Apart from timber, the other local materials include stone for the flooring and some walls, combined with rough-textured plastering and bare brick for other walls.