*️⃣Crystal Houses

Architect #MVRDV
City #Amsterdam
Country #Netherlands #EU

🔤 The entirely transparent façade of a high-end flagship store on Amsterdam’s upmarket shopping street uses glass bricks, glass windows frames and glass architraves in a way to evoke the vernacular of the area with the goal to maintain the character of the site.

Crystal Houses began its existence with the request of Developer to design a flagship store combining both Dutch heritage and international architecture. The 620m2 of retail and 220m2 of housing unites the ambition of Amsterdam to have large distinctive flagship stores without compromising the historical ensemble. #context

The near full-glass façade mimics the original design but is stretched vertically to comply with updated zoning laws and to allow for an increase in interior space.

Glass bricks stretch up the façade of Crystal Houses, eventually dissolving into a traditional terracotta brick façade for the apartments (as stipulated in the City’s aesthetics rules), which appears to be floating above the shop floor.

“We said to the client, ‘Let’s bring back what will be demolished but develop it further’” explains Winy Maas, architect and co-founder of MVRDV.

#quote@simoderna

The only exceptions to this rule are added features which ensure the security of the building, such as a concrete ram-raid defence plinth, hidden in a blend of reflective and translucent materials and built to withstand the force of a car crashing into the building.

Project was selected by #Archdaily as the best building in commercial category in 2017. #award

🔤
Material #glassbrick #brick
Function #retail #shop
Address: Pieter Cornelisz Hooftstraat 94, 1071 CC Amsterdam, Netherlands
Google street

©️
pics by architects
text by architects and Archdaily

channel navigation

*️⃣Urban Hive

Architect #archium
City #Seoul
Country #SouthKorea #AP

🔤The dotted facade of the Urban Hive building was developed as a load-bearing surface that enables the interior spaces to be largely free from supporting structures.

"Urban Hive is an example of the skin and structure unification in a building and has been designed to maximise the flexibility of the space by excluding structural elements, other than the core, in the users' space," said the architect.

As for the energy saving purposes, it blocks hot direct sunlight and cold wind, and forms convection current to lower the temperature of the heated glass. #sustainability

🔤
Material #rawconcrete
Function #office
Feature #nightlight #adminvisited #skyscraper
Address: 476 Gangnam-daero, Gangnam District, Seoul, South Korea
Google street

©️
pics by #ParkYoungchae
text by Dezeen and Archdaily

channel navigation

*️⃣ GES-2 House of Culture

Architect #Piano #RenzoPiano #RPBW
City #Moscow
Country #Russia #EU

🔤When thinking about what kind of building would be perfect to create a space for contemporary culture, a power station comes to mind immediately. This is what RPBW found in Moscow: a magnificent historical power station built between 1904 and 1908 specifically to supply the the first Moscow tram network with electricity. #heritage

For the last decades of its life, GES-2, although it generated electricity, was itself growing darker and darker. Renzo Piano suggested dismantling the rubble, freeing the blocked window openings and making the roof transparent. At the same time, the architect tried to preserve and even restore historical elements as much as possible. #refurbishment

Renzo Piano immediately said that he was going to change the entire landscape around the building, because architecture needs air. So on the slope behind the House of Culture there appeared its own Grove with 620 birch trees. Although it solves quite practical problems (it blocks the neighboring industrial buildings and serves as a cover for parking).

Thanks to the reconstruction, GES-2 has become a space open for experiments and impressions, where the energy of creation is generated instead of electrical energy. That is why the interiors of the House of Culture are dominated by a neutral background of different shades of light grey, ready to accept any form of art.

🔤
Colour #white #blue
Material #steel
Function #public #museum
Feature #interior #adminvisited
Address: Bolotnaya Naberezhnaya, 15 Moscow, Russia, 119072
Google street
Interior google street
Night interior google street
Overhead crane google street

©️
pics by #Denance, Gleb Leonov, Anya Marchenkova and #DanielAnnenkov
text by Archdaily and ges-2.org

channel navigation

*️⃣The Museum Hotel Antakya

Architect #Arolat #EmreArolat #EAA
City #Antakya
Country #Turkey #ME

🔤Situated nearby the Saint Peter’s Church on Mount Starius in Antakya, which is claimed to have housed the first Christian congregation, the hotel is erected on a site of archaeological findings dating back to antiquity.

The Museum Hotel Antakya pays homage to the amazing mosaics, baths, piazzas discovered during the first drills of the site and draws on the tensioned relationship of Archaeology and Architecture by intertwining the ancient and the modern.

An understanding of the unique context was a vital part of this project; becoming familiar with archaeological preservation, re-interpreting the architectural program of the hotel typology made it possible to design a building that would fit within this place and to receive the approval of the Heritage Committee. #heritage

🔤
Colour #grey
Material #steel
Function #mixeduse #public #museum #hospitality #hotel
Feature #interior
Address: St. Pierre Mevkii, Haraparası, Hacılar Sk. No: 26/1, 31060 Antakya/Hatay, Türkiye
Google street
Outside google street

©️
pics by #ThomasMayer and #EmreDorter
text by Archdaily

channel navigation

*️⃣UCCA Clay Museum

Architect #Kuma #KengoKuma #KKAA
City #Yixing close to #Huzhou
Country #China #AP

🔤"We designed an art museum to showcase the ceramic culture in Yixing, known as the "ceramic capital" and renowned for its production of pottery using purple clay. The site was once the center of Yixing's ceramic culture, with its numerous pottery factories and ateliers. This project aligns with the master plan to redevelop the area and envisions a cultural center for ceramics, incorporating ateliers and workshops while preserving the remnants of decommissioned factories."

The volume resembling a mountain of pottery is inspired by Shushan Mountain, located near the project site and cherished by the Northern Song dynasty writer Su Dongpo, as well as by the dragon kiln, a climbing kiln that has been in continuous use for 600 years. #context

The facade, which evokes the "temperature" of pottery in the manufactory, was developed in collaboration with local artisans. Warm and slightly coarse to the touch like Chinese tea ware, these ceramic panels embody the history and culture of the ceramic city, which has been passed down through the generations for more than 1,000 years.

🔤
Colour #coral
Material #ceramic
Function #public #museum
Address: 31.2651001, 119.8572574

©️
pics by #FangfangTian and #EiichiKano
text by Archdaily