On the edge
An overview of projects, products and exclusive articles about on the edge
Project • By Rebelo de Andrade • Hotels
Eco-resort of Parque de Pedras Salgadas
The Eco Houses grew from a double conceptual root. On the one hand, ensuring the profitability of Pedras Salgadas Park as a tourist hotel project made the option between rehabilitating the existing hotel or building a new one a project that was as slow as it was costly. On the other hand, the organicity of the park itself actually suggests implementing these bungalows, which are small in comparison with a conventional hotel and much easier to conceal in the existing tree cover. The main characteristic is their modular nature. This fundamental detail continuously transforms the experience of those who lodge there. Any of the houses – consisting of a hall, bathroom, sitting room and bedroom – allows for multiple layouts, so that it was possib... More
Project • By Gracia Studio • Private Houses
Endémico Resguardo Silvestre
Located in Valle de Guadalupe «Mexico’s Wine Country», Baja California,Endémico Resguardo Silvestre is a set of twenty independent rooms of twenty square meters each, operated by Grupo Habita, a Design Hotels member; established within a surface of 99 hectares, part of the Encuentro Guadalupe development, which includes a winery as well as a residential area.
One of the principal premises was not to interfere directly the land, as part of the philosophy of the project is to respect nature in every possible way. The availability of steel by our client leads to the design of the clean structure with this material, which elevates the skeleton of the room, to avoid contact with the soil. The employment of corten steel to cover it, which over... More
Project • By Rintala Eggertsson Architects • Watch Towers
SELJORD LOOKOUT POINTS
The myth about a sea serpent in the lake of Seljord has become an integral part of how the local people of Telemark conceive its majestic landscape. Tales about mysterious phenomena in the lake have flourished for centuries and are a natural part of the daily life in the area.
In 2008, the municipality of Seljord decided to use this mythical feature as a point of departure for a development programme for the area. They commissioned Rintala Eggertsson Architects to design different lookout points around the lake to ease the access for local population and visitors to experience the lake at some important places. The assignment was divided into two parts; first to design three small installations in the mid- and southeast section of t... More
Project • By Saunders Architecture • Watch Towers
Aurland Lookout
Aurland Lookout was designed by Todd Saunders and Tommie Wilhelmsen. We won first prize to in an invited competition in 2002. This project is part of a national program on tourist routes commissioned by the Norwegian Highway Department. The pictures actually say more than a thousand words. More
Project • By Steven Holl Architects • Exhibition Centres
Knut Hamsun Center
Knut Hamsun, Norway's most inventive twentieth-century writer, fabricated new forms of expression in his first novel Hunger. He went on to found a truly modern school of fiction with his works Pan, Mysteries, and Growth of the Soil. This center dedicated to Hamsun is located above the Arctic Circle near the village of Presteid of Hamarøy near the farm where the writer grew up. The 2300-square meter center includes exhibition areas, a library and reading room, a café, and an auditorium equipped with the latest film projection equipment. (Hamsun's writings have been particularly inspiring to filmmakers, which is evident in the more than 17 films based on his work.)
The building is conceived as an archetypal and intensified compression of s... More
Project • By Rintala Eggertsson Architects • Private Houses
HUT-TO-HUT
The hut was developed in a design- and building workshop with students from the University of Science andTechnology in Trondheim following an international seminar about the future of eco-tourism in the Western Ghats region in India. The main aim was to find solutions which would benefit the local population specifically and the environment of the region in general.
The concept was to make the hut as environmentally friendly as possible by using locally produced, materials and renewable energy sources. This would then simplify both production and maintenance of the buildings in the long run.
The organization is based on the local building tradition with a cluster of houses which compose a shaded courtyard situation where people can g... More
Project • By Wingårdhs Arkitektkontor AB • Visitor Center
Tåkern visitor centre
All the way out where the forest ends and the reeds begin, a visitor center hovers low on piles set carefully into the water’s edge. The building is clad in thatch, camouflaged like a birdwatcher’s blind, hiding its contents from the natural world that surrounds it. This is quiet architecture, using traditional local materials to break new ground with its crystalline geometry. Steep roofs transition seamlessly into walls. The steep pitch gives them longevity. The ridge, where a thatched roof is most vulnerable, is transformed into a glazed skylight.
The visitor center is the main feature of a series of measures that celebrate Tåkern’s qualities. The path to the building passes a number of landscape exhibits that reveal, for example,... More
Project • By SAMI.arquitectos • Visitor Center
Gruta das Torres Visitor Centre
The Gruta das Torres, which is a volcanic cave located on Pico Island in the Azores, was classified as a Regional Natural Monument in 2004.
With the decision to open it to the public it became necessary to construct a building to support visitors, but one which would also protect the skylight of the entrance to the cave. The architectural project sought to simultaneously achieve both aims by means of an undulating stone wall which transformed into an intricate lacework at the point of contact with the building. This provides an entrance of light which is both filtered and continuous, permitting the uniform illumination of the interior and avoiding the necessity for other openings.
With the exception of this wall the building i... More
Project • By Olson Kundig • Hotels
The Rolling Huts
Responding to the owner’s need for space to house visiting friends and family, the Rolling Huts are several steps above camping, while remaining low-tech and low-impact in their design. The huts sit lightly on the site, a flood plain meadow in an alpine river valley. The owner purchased the site, formerly a RV campground, with the aim of allowing the landscape return to its natural state. The wheels lift the structures above the meadow, providing an unobstructed view into nature and the prospect of the surrounding mountains.
The huts are grouped as a herd: while each is sited towards a view of the mountains (and away from the other structures), their proximity unites them. They evoke Thoreau’s simple cabin in the woods; the structures ta... More
Project • By Büro Ole Scheeren • Auditoriums
Archipelago Cinema
Archipelago Cinema, an auditorium raft designed to float on the sea, premiered at the inaugural edition of the Film on the Rocks Yao Noi Festival, curated by Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Tilda Swinton. The Festival, which took place from 9th- 12th March 2012, is set to become an annual meeting place for art and film.
The final night of the first edition of Film on the Rocks Yao Noi took place on Archipelago Cinema, designed by German-born and Beijing-based architect Ole Scheeren. Guests were taken by boat through the darkness of the sea to arrive on a glowing raft in the middle of the quiet waters of Nai Pi Lae lagoon on Kudu Island. Surrounded by a dramatic landscape of towering rocks emerging from the ocean, the audience experienced a... More