Star

Lise Meitner Square is part of the experimental housing project START in Ivry-sur-Seine, which includes five residential buildings. And yet, this square was not initially meant to exist. Its creation required overcoming major constraints linked to two 1,500-metre-deep geothermal wells on site—providing heating for a large part of the city— which originally demanded a fenced, impermeable and inaccessible zone. STAR-BOARD Such an arrangement would have seriously compromised the quality of life for the nearly 300 families living in START-Ivry. After long negotiations with the geothermal operator, we secured a 2,600m² public space—transforming a technical limitation into a meaningful urban asset. STAR-BOARD T... 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

The Cabanon is a fully equipped apartment of 6.89 m² including two infrared saunas and a whirlpool bath. It is organized into four spaces, extravagantly different in materials and heights: a 3 m-high living room, a 1.14 m-high bedroom with plenty of storage, a toilet with a rain-shower, and a spa. The spa is the most enclosed space of the Cabanon: the room within a room. The Cabanon is probably the smallest apartment in the world; certainly the smallest with a spa. Ossip Architectuur Fotografie The Cabanon is the conversion of an existing attic used for storage into a living space. It is located on the top floor of a 1950’s residential building in the centre of Rotterdam. Its inside dimensions are H: 3 m, W: 1,97 m, L: 3,6... More

The city of Elche is carrying out its biggest and most relevant projects during one of the worst economic crises: the Mirador del Palmeral (Palm Grove Viewpoint), the regeneration of the riverbanks, etc. This could result in the design of more intelligent projects with more substantial and clearer development strategies that could have never been conceived in the maniera of the previous economical context. The municipality now proposes the construction of a new auditorium as an emblematic building for the city. Caption We believe that strategic interventions, rather than simply iconic ones, are the only valid answers to the demands of this competition. In a time when private and individual interests are taking over, we want to bring t... More

Reykjavik has the exclusive opportunity to reinvent its city centre. It could not only rejuvenate itself but also give a preview of how a European City of the 21st Century could function. The relocation of its city airport unveils an incredible potential: a large amount of area is freed up right in the heart of the city. Caption   These days, it does not happen often in Europe that an area close to a city centre is being developed and that one gets the chance to plan a completely new activity centre for a city. Normally, this opportunity only arises in the periphery and its big-box development: the shopping mall. There, planners try to recreate the atmosphere and structure of inner cities. Shopping malls ultimately took over and... More

How to add more programme without increasing the surface? Spain has suffered in recent years from an incredible rise in the cost of a square metre of housing. Housing regulations are adapting to allow smaller minimum sizes for apartments as it becomes unaffordable to buy and to rent for ever more people. The University of Zaragoza plans to build 500 new apartments for students and guest teachers following this change in regulations, and fixing apartments with one bedroom at 30 m2, and two bedroom apartments at 37 m². Caption To fight these rising costs we propose a growth in space (m3) without increasing the floor area (m²). The plan will remain as small as possible, while finding new opportunities in the section. This will... More

This study is meant to give a general idea of the elements that are shaping cities today. Cities of today have the same needs as those of hundreds of years ago: communication and representation. They need to be connected and they need to be attractive. The elements that provide these necessities change and evolve through time. I see the European City as an evolving system of re-invention of the res publica. However, today the shape of the city is not designed solely by architects, but also by developers and multinational companies. What once the Roman roads meant for communication is represented by Ryanair today. The cult and veneration that temples received centuries ago, is these days being given to Superstar Architecture. Could Ikea be t... More

Manzana 5 –The development has been commissioned after winning first prize in the Open Competition for Blocks 5 and 6 of the Digital Mile District in Zaragoza   The Re-Creation of Zaragoza Zaragoza is undergoing a huge transformation. It is the 5th biggest city in Spain but for many years stayed too comfortable and closed in itself. The city has become aware of the enormous competition among European cities in this day and age, and in a span of less than 10 years will undergo a radical recreation. Zaragoza is gathering the ten elements of the portfolio we describe in our study The Re-Creation of the European City. Caption The relocation of Zaragoza Railway Station in the Delicias district and its transformation into a mod... More

In order to satisfy residential and business requirements in Amsterdam - as an alternative to expansion areas such as IJburg - former industrial sites on the north bank of the river IJ will be restructured to intensify the use of the land available. These areas enjoy a central location, due to their proximity to the city centre and the visual connection with the centre from the northern side of Central Station. The location of our project belongs to the Buiksloterham, an industrial estate which, over the next 25 years, will gradually be transformed into a mixed residential-business area. It is required that each apartment contains a more or less independent working area, allowing for the possibility of working at, or next to one’s, ho... More

View point + Square / Avenue + Train Station + Parking, Elche The Design of an Oxymoron. In 2009 our office won the International competition for the Mirador del Palmeral (Palm Grove’s Viewpoint), in Elche, Spain with the simplest proposal, yet the most controversial project the office had ever undertaken up to this point. We worked on the project for almost 2 years until a change in the political composition of the City Government stopped it*.  *The project got cancelled after the change of government in the municipal elections of 2011 where the left-wing party lost against the right-wing party for the first time in the history of democracy in Spain.   The two-phased competition received a lot of attention, not only be... More