The floor
An overview of projects, products and exclusive articles about the floor
Project • By UNStudio • Private Houses
Haus am Weinberg
The location of the Haus am Weinberg affords pastoral views of the stepped terraces of an ancient hillside vineyard on one side and cityscape vistas on the other. The volume and roofline of the Haus am Weinberg react and respond directly to the sloping landscape of the site, where the scales and inclinations of the slopes which sculpture the vineyard setting are reflected in the volumetric appearance of the house.
The inner circulation, organisation of the views and the programme distribution of the house are determined by a single gesture, ‘the twist’. This central element supports the main staircase as it guides and organises the main flows through the house. The direction of each curve is determined by a set of diagonal movements. Whi... More
Balancing Barn
The MVRDV project is built on a beautiful site by a small lake in the English countryside near Thorington in Suffolk. From the road, the barn is almost invisible; the front being only 7 metres wide, with a pitched roof, faces the long straight driveway approach, suggesting a small house with a traditional shape. The volume, however, has a length of 30 metres. At the midpoint it starts to cantilever over the descending slope; a balancing act made possible by the rigid structure of the building; resulting in 50% of the barn being in free space, and giving a wide view over the Suffolk landscape, adjacent lake and surrounding gardens. The long sides of the structure are well hidden by trees allowing privacy inside and around the barn. The exter... More
Project • By Sou Fujimoto Architects • Private Houses
House NA
House like a single Tree
House standing within a residential district in central Tokyo.
To dwell in a house, amongst the dense urbanity of small houses and structures can be associated to living within a tree.
Tree has many branches, all being a setting for a place, and a source of activities of diverse scales.
The intriguing point of a tree is that these places are not hermetically isolated but are connected to one another in its unique relativity. To hear one's voice from across and above, hopping over to another branch, a discussion taking place across branches by members from separate branches. These are some of the moments of richness encountered through such spatially dense living.
By stratifying floor plates almost furni... More
China Central Television (CCTV) Headquarters
Today OMA participated in the official construction completion ceremony for the China Central Television (CCTV) Headquarters in Beijing, which will start to be used later this year. Designed by OMA as a reinvention of the skyscraper as a loop, construction on the building began in 2004. At approximately 473, 000m2, CCTV – accommodating TV studios, offices, broadcasting and production facilities – is OMA’s largest ever project and its first major building in China.
Philippe Ruault
CCTV defies the skyscraper’s typical quest for ultimate height. Rising from a common platform, two towers lean towards each other and eventually merge in a perpendicular, 75-metre cantilever. The design combines the entire process of T... More
Project • By Wendell Burnette Architects • Private Houses
Desert Courtyard House
Earth and Sky
The site is a peninsula of granite outcroppings and towering Saguaro cacti surrounded on all sides by deep perennial desert washes except for a single spit of land affording access from an Ocotillo studded ridge above. The building site, further down a long private drive, levels out toward the west into an edge condition dominated by an expansive vista - layers and layers of distant mountain ranges - that in the evening seem to epitomize the drama of the Arizona Sunset. Due to the elevation of the site beneath the community’s gaze and the entry gate at the road it became important to us - to recede the house as a deep shadow - into the depth and complexity of the desert floor below.
When your feet begin to move across th... More
Project • By a21studĩo • Residential Landscape
The Tent
Located inside an operating hot spring and mineral resort, the Tent is a small spa perched in the folds of halfway terrace up to a rock hill, facing to the river. This seems to be the good place for hiding away from the eventful area on the other side of the hill to enjoy healthy activities such as mud bathing and massage services. However, one of the biggest constraints of the site is that it gets intense heat from the West throughout the year, which makes it fallow for years.
Firstly, a steep roof with thick thatch is considered to be a good solution to prevent the sunlight as well as a good blend with surrounding landscape. By placing the slope side to the West, a huge amount of heat is trapped outside the building. Furthermore, the... More
Project • By UNStudio • Museums
Mercedes-Benz Museum
The Mercedes Benz Museum intricately combines structure and content. The Museum is dedicated to a legendary car; its unique structure has been specifically devised to showcase a collection in which technology, adventure, attractiveness and distinction are merged. It is also a Museum for people to freely move through, to dream, learn, look and let themselves be oriented by fascinations, light and space… Lastly, it is a Museum for the city, a new landmark to celebrate the enduring passion of Stuttgart’s most famous inventor and manufacturer.
Christian Richters
The structure of the MB Museum is based on a trefoil; both in its internal organization and in its outward expression this geometry responds to the car-driven context... More
Hotel Q
The new "design hotels" are unique experiences of architectural spaces and cosmopolitan hubs for the traveler. They can seduce you to experiment with old habits, and inspire new rituals.
Graft laid out a hotel landscape that changes the classic spacial canon through the topographical folding of the program. More
Project • By studio_GAON • Private Houses
House of Respect and Happiness
The owners of this house asked us to name the house as ‘House of Respect and Happiness’. It was just full one year since they were married. Though they weren’t 20s, they were very strong and fresh, just as cornlian cherry quaking by chilly spring wind. They met at a seminar, got married, and the husband chose the subject of his life as respect, while the wife chose as happiness. They wanted to make a space in their house to carry out exchange and educate.
Concept of architecture is a big bowl to put all contexts and programs together, that we choose every single word carefully. But in this case, the owner brought the concept in person for us to solve.
What is respect and what is happiness? Every single building we design has differe... More
Project • By YELLOW OFFICE architecture • Bars
The Smart Pub
The Smart Pub is a combination between high quality food restaurant and event bar. A place near Preajba lake in Craiova, with a beautiful view.
The design is a contemporary eclectic-industrial style. On this two storeys building the main theme was to create a major “object and material contrast”. Warm materials such as wood and recovered brick are highlighted by white metal and ceramics. Glossy elements are also contrasting with rough natural wood floor. Retro light bulbs were used for creating a warm general atmosphere.
One other important characteristic is the disposing of the two bars, one on each floor. The furniture features classical design Thonet chairs, and comfortable sofas- both have 2 finishes, textile and leather enclos... More
Product • By Lily Latifi • Flooring
Flooring
For this new line, the idea is to give the illusion that the floor is in 3 dimensions.
To create this illusion, Lily Latifi worked on how the designs should be photographed long before they where printed, with emphasis on play with light and shadow. This helped to highlight the various reliefs, embosses and textures.
The maximum dimensions of each image is 4m by 12m80
without any repeat.
There will only be repeats for bigger sizes than these.
So it is possible to cover a whole surface from wall to wall
or to make area rugs.
As you can see, the bigger the surface, the greater the visual impact.
There are 5 designs in this collection and 4 shades of coloured greys for each of them.
The texture effects are printed on the carp... More
Project • By Studio RUIM • Primary Schools
Floris Versterstraat
It is not very difficult to imagine how schoolchildren in the 1930s hang their coats on the rack underneath the window or how they stepped inside the classroom to do their math, using an abacus. The sound of playing children at the playground behind the building climbing up to the ridge of the roof.
That is the power of Studio R U I M of interior architects Sigrid van Kleef and René van der Leest: they refurbish old and monumental buildings with respect for the past and with regard to the future. In the sleek design of the modern apartment the contours of the classroom from the past remain visible in subtle references. The linoleum on the floor, the use of vintage colors, the exposed beams underneath the roof and the window, which on... More
Product • By Mommersteeg BV • RE/COVER green – Parts
RE/COVER green – Parts
The new organic Flooring by Vorwerk More
Project • By AHL architects associates • Private Houses
4.5x20 House
This house was designed for a young family with one children and grand mother, located in Van Phu new urban area in Ha Noi, Vietnam. The existing design is boring (like thounsands of other houses in Vietnam): lost of natural lighting and ventilation; simple space with core (staircase and toilet) in the middle and two bedrooms at two sides. Client (young family) needs something different from the existing. They need their own house, their style. This situation requires a smart solution for traffic, thereby creating interesting solutions of space, daylight and natural ventilation.
Based on their requirements, the program is quite simple: garage (for 2 cars), kitchen on the 1st floor, bedroom (for grand mother) and living room on the 2nd... More
Product • By Ceramiche Refin S.p.A. • Mansion
Mansion
The prestige of age-old wood in its various essences lead to creations that enhance the traditions of hand-made craftsmanship manufacturing without relinquishing the advantages of the most innovative ceramic technology. The feeling of wood crafted and planed by hand, of the stucco restoration of age-old wooden planks and of the expert waxing process come back to life in a marvellous product destined to be used in the most sophisticated contemporary venues. More