Flexibility

The new vocational school for construction trades is located in a central area of Zurich, Switzerland. Gunz & Künzle Architects designed the building to maximize the number of classrooms while also creating valuable public spaces for the neighborhood. The slender building follows the street and creates a spacious courtyard that connects to the public functions on the school's first floor. Federico Farinatti Federico Farinatti Federico Farinatti Federico Farinatti Federico Farinatti Federico Farinatti Federico Farinatti Federico Farinatti This piano nobile, which acts as a truss frame structure, is suspended over the gymnasiums that extend from the basement to the ground floor.  While th... More

Rethinking housing from the inside out: a new generation of social and private housing, where the dwelling adapts to its inhabitants – and not the other way around. START-Ivry sets out to redefine housing culture. It rejects the prevailing standardisation of housing production and responds to the growing diversity of contemporary lifestyles. It rethinks housing from the inside — starting from the resident — restoring the central role of the floor plan, and boldly reversing the conventional process by starting with architecture: the architect is selected first, and developers are then invited to compete. START embodies a genuine paradigm shift.   START stands for Social, Transformable, Affordable and Resilient Typol... More

Space Tower is a cutting-edge office building designed to seamlessly integrate comfort, accessibility, and flexibility. Guided by the philosophy of "putting humans at the center," IPA meticulously crafted every aspect of the design process. In 2021, the building was awarded LEED Gold certification, underscoring its commitment to sustainability and environmental responsibility. Dian Stanchev Located in a prime business district of the capital, the Space Tower project blends seamlessly with its surroundings, embracing the concept of a garden building by integrating nature into both its interior and exterior spaces. IPA took a leading role in designing the entire building's interior, ensuring alignment with the needs and preferences of t... More

Exhibition pavilions provide the platform for presenting and showcasing products, establishing direct contact with customers, enhancing brand recognition, attracting new customers, and connecting with the industry and other colleagues in effective ways. The following ideas represent our efforts in designing the Rost Pavilion at the 2024 International Furniture Exhibition. Deed Studio Deed Studio Pavilion: Temporary Architecture Exhibition pavilions are considered a branch of temporary architecture; an architecture designed for limited-time use, after which it is either demolished or relocated. The elements of this type of architecture, such as its structure and materials, have specific characteristics including being lightweight... More

Located in an established suburb of Melbourne, The Courtyard and Garden House has a compact, modest footprint and has been sensitively sited to retain existing trees. This approach is the antithesis of many large new developments in the area that erase important existing ‘backyard’ ecologies. Caption The new family home prioritizes longevity and sustainability. It caters to their needs both now and in the future and can adapt from a two-bedroom house with separate studies to a four-bedroom dwelling. This has been achieved by carefully organizing the space around a north-facing courtyard, allowing for a variety of flexible, separate living areas and open-space zones. It creates a series of serene, light-filled spaces with a... More

1. Marziyeh, the architect who helped us here at Rooydaad for three years, making our architectural endeavors brighter, sat before us one day, overwhelmed with fear and anxiety, and confessed that she no longer felt passionate about architecture and desired to focus solely on painting—a revelation that seemed incongruous given her professionalism and proficiency in her role. Rooydaad Architects    We encouraged her to weigh up her decision, considering its gravity. Ultimately, we agreed that she could transition to a part-time role at Rooydaad, allowing her to pursue her newfound passion for painting alongside her architectural duties. 2. A year later, Marziyeh returned, her resolve unwavering, to announce that she wa... More

Right next to La Floresta School, in an area of outstanding natural value bordering the wooded mass of the Parc de Collserola, there is a building that was originally used to house the teachers who worked at the school. This place was popularly known as Les Cases dels Mestres. The building was constructed in 1969 and designed as a typical low-cost housing development. These buildings, severe and honest, responded to some standard features: simple and unprejudiced volumetrics, slightly traditional language, very short structural bays, and rational and limited-cost construction methods. The houses lost their raison d'être, and the dwellings fell into disuse. Despite this, they remained present in the population's memory, and decades lat... More

A wooden industrial hall with office function Roofscape The industrial hall(s) is, in itself, a straightforward structure. However, the roofscape transforms it into a distinctive building, both visually and experientially. Image Courtesy B-too Image Courtesy B-too The industrial hall serves as a climatic and safety envelope for business activities, such as a production environment. Flexibility within and around the hall is crucial to optimally facilitate the activities as an envelope. The envelopes, however, are of such magnitude that the landscape is significantly impacted. The roofscape solution, developed by B-invented in collaboration with B-leaf, ensures an optimally flexible envelope with maximum use of the roof. The roof... More

The SFDA.lab addresses the needs of a school group by designing a cafeteria space that allows students to dine informally outside of the school restaurant's regular hours. The project is envisioned as a versatile space that not only serves as a cafeteria but also introduces new functionalities to the school group. Adrien Fouéré   The project is located at the junction of a 1970s building and a monolithic extension housing the high school. Besides the expressed requirement for a new cafeteria, it appears that certain existing spaces, such as the auditorium or the entrance hall, have reached their maximum capacity or could be enriched with complementary uses. Rather than implementing multiple separate interventions,... More

For the office building at Parque Austral, our main goal was maximizing the usable space, which led us to opt for a single circulation corridor. Along this corridor, we incorporated intermediate spaces serving as reception areas for the offices, each offering its own distinct atmosphere.   Gonzalo Charon Gonzalo Charon This idea sprang from a desire to break the monotony of the corridor and give it an open, spacious feel to avoid any sense of confinement. Our vision for these areas – the reception, the corridor itself, and the offices – was to blend seamlessly, forming the heart of the project with its own unique character.   Gonzalo Charon Gonzalo Charon Gonzalo Charon We wanted tenants to... More

Carrying out a commission for a Social Institution reconsiders the role of the architect, since the client represents a group of people who give him power to ensure services for the community. Javier Agustin Rojas Javier Agustin Rojas Flexibility, flexibility, flexibilityWhen the project began, there was only one certainty: that when the building was finished, the program would already have changed. The institution was in the process of growing, and that was a fact. It was then decided to work with a free-plan structural scheme until reaching a system of porticos between party walls with high-rise beams. Releasing the width of the plan, the depth of the scheme remained to be resolved, for which a strategy of sequencing spaces fro... More

Dena villa project, actually built 20 years ago. It had a complicated and closed plan, the owner of which wanted to make fundamental changes and general reconstruction, due to the age of himself and his wife. We have followed two main goals for the improvement and reconstruction of this villa: 1-     Using the maximum natural light For using the maximum light, in order to create visual transparency and connecting the interior spaces to the yard, we increased the number and area of the windows. Also by using some skylights, where there was the possibility of construction, we illuminated the dark spaces.  2-     Integrating the separate spaces in order to create spatial flexibility while maintaining the character... More