Creative reuse

“A new definition of luxury and calm in the centre of the city.’’ Project Brief and LocationIn Cranleigh Lodge every detail is designed to distil the project to its essence, to emphasize balance and harmony rather than a superficial shine. The feeling of a peaceful sanctuary is provided by emotional design and its application with ultimately sophisticated detailing. The house stands behind a door framed by a distinctive classical stone portal. Although it is invisible from the bustling street, it lies as a hidden gem at the heart of Chelsea. Edvinas Bruzas As soon as you enter the garden, you are taken to a tranquil oasis, far from the commotion and chaos of the surrounding metropolis.Originally built as a smal... More

Sustainability is more than making energy-efficient buildings. BLAF continously reacts by design to the growing complexity of urban planning, affordability, social and ecological issues. Along with our search for new housing and urban planning strategies, we like to experiment with the basic component of our “genetic material”:the single family home. Stijn Bollaert Stijn Bollaert The dnA house is located on a left over plot in the centre of Asse, at 400m from the railway station, with a direct connection to Brussels. The house also contains a home office. The cross shaped footprint is oriented towards the sun and following the natural slope on the terrain, which results in a ca 45° rotation towards the street.The... More

This project was a geometrical challenge for the agency. The objective was to build a detached house for a family with two children and a dog in an area of suburban housing in Cachan (south of Paris), on one of the town’s last few buildable plots. Aurélien Chen The site presented a few constraints due to its irregular quadrilateral shape; it was also bordered by a street, a path and a car park. The rules on non-constructible strips around buildings imposed a restriction of 43 m² of triangular ground floor space, and the house could only reach a maximum height of three storeys. Its maximum potential volume would give it a slender aspect that would make it look like a turret. The choice of a prismatic shape enabled us... More

Landåssvingen 15 is 3RW’s project for the renovation of Bergen’s Lærerhøgskolen, the teachers’ college, for new educational, cultural and sports activities, including an introduction centre for newly arrived foreign language students, as well as an adult education centre. In collaboration with HLM, our office won the assignment for Bergen municipality to develop the existing college in Landås into a building catered to its new tenants use and needs. New institutional bodies in Landåssvingen 15 include Nygård skule, the introduction centre for refugees, and “Etat for integrering”, the Bergen chapter of the Norwegian Agency for Integration. The project is a pilot for architect... More

The total demolition of the internal planks has allowed the creation of a complete new plan in which the sleeping area has been placed in the basement while the living area on the upper floor. The project focuses on the volume dedicated to the staircase created and designed in every single detail. This element identifies the concept of circularity which is the basic idea of plan development. The apartament is characterized by custom-made furnishing; from the living room and kitchen countertops, to the walls oft he living area, to the bathroom in the basement.   Material Used : 1. Floor finish: Marble Ceppo di Gre2. Custom-made stair and staircase: Natural Oak wood3. Kitchen: floor finish: Marble “Aparici“ model “Ve... More

The Gingko House new flagship restaurant is a community project. Gingko House is a restaurant chain that provide employment for the elders. We have attempted to retain the existing weathered and aged interior spatial quality to echo the unique business nature of this social enterprise which was set up out of the love for the elders.For those of you who are not familiar with Hong Kong, Temple Street was, and still is, one of the cities red-light districts mainly visited by aged local men and currently, Temple Street is now dazzling with tourism.The Gingko restaurant, which is a social enterprise, is ironically situated above a "Mahjong School”. The Kwok’s family - the landlord of the Gingko House - ran a chain of "Mahjong Schools"(... More

The five self-built experimental houses at Svartlamon, a project initiated by the young architectural practice Nøysom arkitekter while they were still students, explores how architects can work towards a more frugal and sustainable use of resources by creating open-ended architectural frameworks that facilitate man’s natural adaptive capacity. By encouraging self-building and user participation, the result has not only been five houses with a square meter price of one fifth of market price, but also a varied and rich living environment with a unique architectural quality.The architectural concept was developed in a process spanning two years. The architects first created a sketch project with participation from the local community, and late... More

The installation and the signage of “Centro Servizi Culturali Santa Chiara”, property of Trento Municipality, have been commissioned by a tendering procedure. The project includes the exterior and interior parts of a medieval former convent, partially protected by “Sovrintendenza dei Beni architettonici” (cultural heritage committee). The “Centro Servizi”, thanks to the adjoining urban park, links different parts of the city and, together with the two theatres, attracts people of all ages and different cultures. Part of the complex, uninhabited for ages, is in a severe state of disrepair and except from a few graffiti of a modest artistic level, there are offensive and xenophobic writings on the walls, evidence not only of urban but also ci... More