Green walls

YMCA Residential Centre - Flagship for the future Through a land swap deal between the YMCA charity, MK council and MKDP (the council's business arm), the charity invested 13 million pounds to demolition their existing 1970s building in the heart of Milton Keynes and build a new 13-storey high-rise block on half of the space.   The building, as well as providing affordable homes for young people, would include conference room facilities, meeting rooms, a nursery, a cafe and space for local businesses. The ground floor level will also offer employment and training opportunities to stimulate social enterprises. Caption Biophilic Design, Green walls, innovative cladding and reception and cafe.Custom-made curved reception counter... More

The task of the investor for the Perspektiv studio was to prepare a design for the new headquarters of travel agency in the brownfield of the former Zbrojovka in Brno and at the same time to create a uniform design manual for all company offices. The design was prepared by the author's team Ján Antal, Martin Stára, Markéta Michálková, Ema Hrníčková, collaborated by Yana Stepankova and Eduard Mosieienkov. Caption Caption The new offices were designed with an emphasis on travel themes, a strong orientation system, and a contrast between the global and the local. According to the golden rule: Think global, act local. The design was inspired by airport spaces, for example on the floors... More

MAD Completed “Gardenhouse” - its First Project in the USA MAD Architects, led by Ma Yansong, has completed “Gardenhouse,” the first project completed by MAD in the USA.   Located at 8600 Wilshire Boulevard in California’s Beverly Hills, “Gardenhouse” is a mixed-use scheme consisting of 18 residential units above ground floor commercial space. Evoking the lush landscape of Beverly Hills, the scheme becomes a “hillside village” with residential units “growing” from the building’s living green wall. Peaking above the landscaped envelope, a cluster of white façaded, irregular-shaped windows, and gabled-roof structures create a dynamic neighborhood, and a pla... More

The narrow lot of this property is instrumental in determining the plan for this house seeking light and views. 60 feet wide X 150 feet long the lot size renders the opportunity to create a courtyard house. Aside from the typical modern Miami home, conceptually thinking from the inside out, will be the driving force of the architecture for Villa M.A sequence of courtyards interrelate each of the spaces from front to back, creating a straight path that moves you from the entry towards the boat dock. One single corridor takes you through all the areas, from entry courtyards with green walls, to cantilever pergolas, interior sculpture courtyard, to the main vaulted ceiling living area which opens up to an infinity pool and sculptural staircase... More

The restaurant “Marco” is a refurbishment of an existing restaurant, in Largo de Santos, Lisbon, which sought to create different atmospheres in the various dining rooms. With a simple and affordable design, the only restriction to the intervention was to avoid any changes to the existing layout of the restaurant. This intervention considered the three following principles: the alteration and balance of the existing and new colours, the reorganization of the kitchen and bar areas and new furniture. After carefully analysing the existing space, the decision was made to utilise and retain the distinctive existing features of the rooms. Such as the columns, arches, dining table side fixings and the finishes on the walls.   A... More

Oschadbank is a national bank of Ukraine whose a strategic statement sounds as “My bank. My country”. Sergey Makhno Architects challenge was to transmit Ukrainian authenticity and culture, but move away from a strictness that financial institutions used to have. Design studio wanted to make the bank human and welcoming to people.   Sergey Makhno Architects developed a non-standard concept ‘bank as a gallery’. It’s a contemporary office design based on paintings, sculptures, art decor and lighting. Studio is proud of its handmade lamps that are created and produced for the interior. Like in a gallery, the bank ‘expositions’ can change. No strict bindings to the elements, but to the art itself.... More

Set snugly into the very steep terrain, this house hugs the natural contours of the site. In a gesture reminiscent of water pooling and streaming down the slopes of a valley, the house features a series of three ponds. Rain water collected on the roof of the house is channelled into the first and uppermost pond which overflows into a creek down the slope into the second pond, before cascading into the third one at the bottom. At each pond, the water collected is used for irrigation of the garden. Caption The swimming pool is at the heart of this L-shape house, and the path of the rainwater channelling. Caption In response to the existing terrain, numerous steep slopes had to be cut to accommodate the built-in components of the h... More

La Gorce Island has always been known for its extraordinary homes, in a variety of architectural styles from Mediterranean Revival to Modern, each according to the vogue of its time. La Gorce Residence is the culmination of its neighboring contemporary mansions, as one of the largest and the most elaborate built on La Gorce Island.   The 11,000-square-foot residence is one of the 33 waterfront residences on the island, its elegant modern style fits perfectly within the Island’s aesthetics. La Gorce Residence is a specific response to a number of unique conditions; the site, the weather, the sun trajectory, the neighboring buildings, and sea-level rise, among others. The overall configuration of the project is generated by a sli... More

A dreamlike scene set in reality, this two-story building is a fusion restaurant in Pingtung that makes chocolate ganache. Made to look like chocolates stacked upon one another, the entrance leaves a delectable trace, the fork lifting the delicious sign up cleverly serving as a resting area for guest waiting for their desserts, while special paint gave the outer walls the texture of cocoa powder. Coupled with unconventional materials such as faux rust boards and metal pipes, the building amazes even from afar. Silky as chocolate, it invades the senses and sweeps your taste buds away with its bittersweet taste.   Dividing up the chocolate cube, the inner space is sectioned into mismatched dining areas of different tones, deliberately... More

The client, a family of 5, lives in an archetypical row house on a dense plot in the historic centre of Leuven. The home is transformed into a collection of connected spaces with very diverse characters: a very big, high and bright space with zenithal light becomes the centre of the project. A small adjoining brick shed is reached through a secret staircase.   The streetside room serves as a vestibule, a reception space plus storage room. The garden becomes an open air room with green walls and an oversizedwater element. The rooms are defined through a careful formulation of building elements: a floating glass-roof, a thin concrete staircase, a terrazzo floor slab, a green earth wall, a large sliding window. This collection of rooms... More

The historic Carlsberg Brewery site in Copenhagen has opened to the public to become part of the city  - and is now seriously embarking on the successful transformation to a dense urban neighbourhood of its own, the Carlsberg City. Transforming many of the preserved buildings, designed by some of the best European architects of the era, the new neighbourhood is at the same time a unique cultural-historical environment and an attractive modern district. New images by Rasmus Hjortshoj shows ADEPTs contribution to the area - Theodora House - shot in a corona-closed Copenhagen.    Theodora House, named after the Carlsberg founder’s daughter, is located right beside the famous Elephants Gate and adapted in materials and sc... More

3 things that happen when designers design their own office space   As a part of our global expansion plans, Space Matrix branched out into China through the successful acquisition of Muraya last year. Our initial conversations with Muraya told us that this interior design and construction company shared a lot of our core values and cultural beliefs. Together with their talented team, we looked forward to better servicing our clients in Australia, India and Southeast Asia.   But first, we needed a gorgeous office for our newly expanded team in Shanghai. We wanted to rebrand the existing space to reflect its affiliation to the larger Space Matrix family. Moreover, the way we work has changed a lot over the last few years, and w... More