The transformers

When the renewed Rijksmuseum will open her doors in 2013 it will fulfil all international conditions to house over 7.000 objects of art and history, exposed for a big public of 1,5-2 million visitors each year. In order to achieve this, an impressive renovation took place, based on the assigned competition of Cruz y Ortiz Arquitectos in 2001, in which the original 19th century building of Cuypers has been recovered in its original glory. The way in which Cruz y Ortiz carefully treated the existing building highlights and reinforces the spatial use of the monumental building in a modern way. An important thread in the architects’ perspective is “to go further with Cuypers,” which not only does justice to the original architect, but as well r... More

Friday April 5th 1946, on a beautifully clear Spring afternoon crowds cheered as the 25/1 racehorse, “Lovely Cottage”, strode triumphantly past the finishing post to be crowned winner of the Grand National, the UKs largest horse race. Trained by Tommy Rayson and ridden by Captain Robert Petre at the first true Aintree Grand National race since 1940, after the Second World War, and the last to take place on a Friday, which had been the tradition since 1876. That weekend “Lovely Cottage” returned home to the small village of Headbourne Worthy, near Winchester. He received a hero’s welcome before settling in for a well-earned rest in the stables at the Manor House where he was housed. These stables, that were once beautiful and functioni... More

studio Barbara Vos en studio TILIA transform The Hagues’ concert hall into its public living room. After forty years, in the summer of 2012 the famous concert hall, ‘Het Paard van Troje’ (the Trojan Horse) was thoroughly refurbished. The duo from The Hague, studio BARBARA VOS and studio TILIA were appointed to transform the foyer of the concert hall into the public living room of the city. The design, typified as ‘raw glistening’ adheres to the changing needs of concert going public; a night out does not only needs to be a grand event but also an intimate and personal one. Ever since the last refurbishment ten years ago ‘Het Paard van Troje’ has become a significant concert hall in the Netherlands and abroad. It’s maze of corr... More

The concept includes the selection of all furniture that have being inserted. The living room is connected to the kitchen space by a yellow volume that characterizes the modern and aseptic space. Also the bathroom door is qualified by a graphic stamp and the inside is finished with a green Guatemala mosaic stone. More

The refurbishment of this 100 sq meter apartment has been conceptualized to optimize all spaces for a comfortable living, using few essential materials. As a request of the client, a particular attention has been given to the bath room finishes and, except for the kitchen, all floors ar in wood. Glass partitions are used to avoid closing space in small and dark rooms. More

We are asking how to adapt a hundred years old and only little maintained house to everyday needs of a modern family (small floor space, technology and materials not functional anymore, lacking sanitary facilities ...). At the same time we do not want to break or violate soft, sensitive links and layerings created here over the time, as these generate a strong character of this place - magical (and familiar) atmosphere. Usable area of ​​the house (one floor has 30 m2) does not allow to add everything one needs inside. Therefore we leave the house layout almost unchanged, and everything necessary is added outside - instead of an old woodshed on the west side of the house (kitchen), at the southern facade instead of the ancient toilets (bath... More

Seaview apartment with panoramic terrace. The project we are talking about it's a complete interior and exterior renewal. New refurbishment together with a delightful chromatic job gives "personality" to the apartment following the owner's wishes and taste. The Interior was to remind a worm "at home" feeling even if this is a second house. Colorwise, we decided to keep contrast, strong colours jammed with soft nuances and creative textures. In conclusion, the entrance, no one inch of sea is lost! We kept a full view panoramic sliding-door with acces over the terrace. More

Badies, is an example of an extensive urban planning of the seventies with little urban qualities. In the last decade, it has undergone a population surge, necessitating an extension and refurbishment of existing health centre. The brief included works on existing building as well as an extension with new rooms for paediatrics, extraction and administrative staff to increase and improve the service provided. The urban structure of the site is formed by an endless maze of streets and buildings without hierarchy. In this context, the new health centre wants to strengthen the image an institutional building, in an area very much in need for hierarchy and urban structure. The commissioning of the project is set on an austere one storey buil... More

The recovery project of Ex-Opificio Sonnino, in the area of the river port "in Ostiense, was started in 2005; the renovation began in September of that year and the inauguration was done in March 2008. More

Sited in the heart of the Oporto’s down town, at the Carlos Alberto Square, the Pátio Luso – Urban Refurbishment Project, is composed by two built bodies, for multifamily housing, commerce and services, with a common yard space. A distinctive building due to the imposed aesthetic innovation on the internal façades – facing the courtyard and torn by openings, it is an express purpose of promoting transparency and light quality. The main target of this project is the refurbishment and regeneration of this group of residential buildings. The proposed solution seeks to maintain the Historical and Heritage values, which are then combined with an attractive design destined for younger population – a reflection on the Repopulation Policy ne... More

The project consists of transforming an administrative building between party walls, which had significant structural problems, into an office building. The work presents two basic concepts: on one side, the training of obtaining, from a very determining pre-existence, the flexibility and services level that this typology demands. On the other side, a new façade had to allow its identification as a contemporary corporative building. We decided to use colour as an integration tool in a consolidated environment of upper class apartment buildings. The treatment given to both façades puts them in opposite sides in terms of the public image of the building. The budget assigned by the owner to every façade was completely contrasting. On the... More

This dividing wall is located in one of the new urban spaces of Barcelona: the ”Rambla Brasil”. This space is the result of covering an urban highway called "ronda del mig" that has become in one of the most attractive city walks of Barcelona. The location has a high urban interest that needed the participation of the nude wall to complete the urban landscape. The wall turns into an spectator of exception of the day-to-day live of the neighbourhood and its untidy presence was not accompanying on the harmony of the zone, creating a necessity of designing something to integrate the wall into the urban environment. The aim of the project is in one hand to continue the sequential logic of the urban elements that organize the street like... More