Roofs

Whoever said a factory should look grey and dull? The Meama Coffee Factory, gracing the hills around the city of Tbilisi, is a sight to behold. Combining futuristic elements but still abiding by the shape of the surrounding hills, the L-shaped structure features folded exterior concrete walls, angled glazed walls, numerous skylights and atriums and an impressive green roof.  Founded in 2016, the Meama Coffee Factory has quickly risen to become the largest coffee producer in Georgia. The company imports high-quality coffee beans from all over the world to be roasted and grinded to meticulous quality standards, resulting in the finest coffee blends. To ensure a consistent flavor pattern in its premium coffee capsules, Meama felt it was... More

The Batsford Arboretum and Garden Centre on the edge of the Cotswolds sits within a natural reserve housing the largest private collection of trees and plants in England. The collections at Batsford cover a wide range of plants from all around the world, with an emphasis on the Far East. The new visitors’ centre houses a garden shop and a terrace café, with an impressive wavy roof as a true eye-catcher.   An unusual design needs a perfect fit  Architectural practice John Falconer Associates envisioned a structure that would make the new Batsford Arboretum visitors’ centre blend seamlessly and organically with the surrounding landscape, using as many natural and renewable materials as possible. The result is a... More

The Nassauhaven, in the Feijenoord district in Rotterdam, was originally an industrial area for companies that had to be located on waterways and needed a railway connection. In the second half of the 20th century, when road transport became more popular, many companies left the area and the Nassauhaven turned into an unused harbor basin. Light as a feather, yet robust In 2019, Public Domain Architects (PDA) started a first pilot to develop a neighborhood of 18 houses floating on the Nassauhaven’s tidal water. The houses were designed to be future-proof, sustainable and great to live in. In crowded cities such as Rotterdam, where there is limited space and a growing demand for quality housing, this project presented itself as a very... More

The bird and nature reserve ‘Het Zwin’ is a protected nature area between Flanders and the Netherlands. The assignment included the redesign of the existing natural park and the creation of a new visitor center.The authentic maritime landscape with its sand dunes, mud flats and salt marshes, modelled by the sea breeze, consists mainly of wavy lines. Within this wavy landscape COUSSÉE & GORIS architects constructed abstract linear volumes as anchors in the landscape. These architectural interventions consist of a series of parallel lines, that on one hand structure the landscape and on the other hand shelter as wind screens in the Zwin area. They also create a fluent transition between th... More

In Wester Ross, in the northwest highlands of Scotland, Gillian Scampton from Pedder & Scampton Architects and Andrew Barnett from Hopkins Architects set out on an architectural journey. They purchased an old hillside stone cottage that was badly in need of repair. Their goal: Refurbish the cottage and convert it into a comfortable three-bedroom home using environmentally sound technologies and a modern design.  The resulting Fernaig Cottage has provided both with a pleasant living space that blends the past, present and future. It has´also provided them with a number of awards. The finished cottage was named a winner of the “Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS) Awards 2017”, where it also collected a special catego... More

The Exeter branch of RSL recently worked closely with developer Zero C, recommending CUPA PIZARRAS to supply natural slate roofs to the developer’s top end housing development in Somerset. The quality, long lifetime guarantee of CUPA PIZARRAS’ product as well as its highly aesthetic appearance won the specification for the West Country development, which features a listed mill property and elegant new roof designs. Tail Mill in Merriott, close to Crewkerne in Somerset, is being refurbished and converted along with the construction of new residential properties, built by developer Zero C - with the three and four bedroom executive homes commanding asking prices of £4-500,000. Yeovil based Davey Roofing is the specialist sub-contractor whi... More

Fjärilen – a Monochrome Building in Steel shortlisted for the Swedish Building Award Fjärilen (Swedish for "The Butterfly"), a newly constructed apartment complex in Uppsala (Sweden) designed by Belatchew Arkitekter on behalf of real estate company Wallenstam, has been shortlisted for the Swedish Building Award 2017 (Stålbyggnadspriset 2017). - The challenge for this project was to bridge a gap between two blocks with very different typologies. Since we wanted to design them as monochrome units with the same material on roof and façades the choice fell on steel, says Rahel Belatchew, Principal Architect and CEO, Belatchew Arkitekter. - We spent some time looking for the right yellow tint. The Harvest Yellow color is bright and warm... More

A combination of old and new building maintains the center of the city and at the same time it becomes a modern, energy efficient building with a high indoor comfort. Transparent building structure and energy-efficient insulation A well-functioning administration needs clear structures, was the guiding principle during the planning of the new city hall of the city of Gladbeck. Situated in the center of the city, action was being taken in the middle of 2005, to expand the historic city hall from the year 1908 with an adjacent new construction. This was done within the framework of a PPP project between the city and Hochtief. The new construction replaces two office towers, which had to be torn down due to PCB pollution. City and build... More