ABC's of Architecture!

This video is really well done and it is something an Architect or Student Architect should see.

Do you think that the "big" names are all there? You think someone is missing? Let me know your opinion.

Over and Out!

World Architecture Day!

CELEBRATE WORLD ARCHITECTURE DAY!

The First Carbon Negative Street!

Hello again bloggers, 

I am sorry for the long absent, but i've been on vacations and with some laziness in getting back to blogging mode.

Nonetheless i am here to show you something i found on Architecture Lab, an online architecture magazine, regarding sustainable constructions. 
It's the first negative carbon street in the world and it was built in the UK! 















Nonetheless i am here to show you something i found on Architecture Lab, an online architecture magazine, regarding sustainable constructions. 
It's the first negative carbon street in the world and it was built in the UK!

"Britain's first ever 'carbon negative' street is unveiled today.

Residents in the 21 timber houses which make up Sinclair Meadows in South Shields can sleep costly in the knowledge that they will live in the most eco-friendly social housing development in the UK.
The grand design has been created by non-for-profit housing provider Four Housing Group and 52 residents, ranging in age from two-weeks-old to pensioners in their 70s, are due to move in this week.

The carbon negative homes generate more energy than they need and are made of natural materials like timber, hemp insulation and lime render.

Sinclair Meadows was purpose designed and built to surpass the Government's definition of zero carbon and to exceed the minimum requirement for Level 6 of the Code for Sustainable Homes.

The homes have energy monitoring systems installed which allow the occupiers to see the energy that they are using at any on time, and to make informed decisions about reducing their energy use and saving money." 

The goal of this development is to erase in three years the footprint created by the construction and most of the renewal materials chosen will be able reusable and recycled on the end of the development life time.

I am happy to see that people are starting to care about the place they live, and understanding the issues that are related with a contemporary life style. It's not enough to do the minimum requirements anymore, we need to go the extra mile. 

I hope you like it, and why not follow the same path? 
Over and Out!

Font: DailyMail.Co.UK
Photos: North News & Pictures Ltd 

Loft Remodeling in Lisbon/Alvalade

 

Hello everyone. Sorry for the delayed post. I have been quite busy and short of ideas to write in here. 

I have been working on the redesign of my loft with my girlfriend Ana, and i am very happy with the results we are achieving. As the end is coming, i can now show you how it's turning out.

This all area was my workspace and i wanted to have a little return with it, so the idea was to transform the entire space into a house to rent online.

As you can see on the image above, the support table was Ana's project with pallets. My older brother gave us three pallets and we bought the casters and the frosted glass. The rest was all done by Ana and her father, they did the cutting, sanding and varnishing and it turned out very beautiful. I really loved the finished work. 

The dinning table legs and the wooden  chairs were bought in Ikea, and the glass above was part of my workspace drawing board.

Don't you think you can have lovely meals around here? I already did! 

This globe was on Ana's attic and she kindly lent me because it fits perfectly with the new remodeling, as we are receiving people from all over the world.

The interiors of the windows in the living room were dirty and needed a touch, so we decided to paint them dark blue. We wanted to extend the sky view that enter by the two windows we had here, and the result turned out much better than we imagined. 

We also used that same dark blue paint all over the house on the small back wall, as you will see on the next pictures.

These are the two bedrooms we arranged. Before they were kind of materials and papers, warehouse and they were so underutilized. We bough all the stuff on the first bedroom but the wooden shoe racks that belonged to my great grandfather. 

As you can see, the lower wall on both bedrooms are in the same color as the windows on the living room. It unify the whole area smoothly i think.

On the second bedroom we didn't bought almost anything. The bed belonged to my older brother that no longer lives with us, the white lamp was made a long time ago by me and Ana, and the wooden shelves were in my house, we just painted them grey. 

I think you don't need to spend a lot of money to achieve good results, sometimes you just need to work with what you have and be creative. 

This was actually the most difficult part of the remodeling, the small kitchen. It was the area of the loft that needed the most profound intervention. Everything is new here, the cabinets, the wooden top of the kitchen, the sink, the faucets and all the kitchen utensils and crockery.

We also bought a new fridge and a microwave with grill so the new guests can have all the convenience on this space. I don't have a photo of the microwave, but the second picture you can see the top of the new fridge.

We also have one bathroom and beautiful balcony with a stunning view over Lisbon city limits, but those areas we didn't intervene (yet).

Hope you enjoyed it as much as we did remodeling it. 

By the way, if you are interested in staying in our space you can easily book it here.

http://www.airbnb.com/rooms/573210?preview=true

Over and Out!

Serpentine Gallery Pavilion |Herzog & de Meuron and Ai Weiwei| 2012 -- Part II

This temporary exposition pavilion in the Serpentine Gallery that i blogged in a previous post is going to open tomorrow, it's going to stay assembled until 14th of October.


In the photo above you can see the Architects responsible for the project (Herzog & de Meuron) giving a press conference while sitting inside of the pavilion.
The mix between Portuguese cork and water is just wonderful, nature is represented here in a beautiful design.

The exhibition benches in Cork are aligned, waiting for the grand opening, while the water is already in position to reflect London's sky. 
Don't miss the opportunity to visit this amazing construction in London's Hyde Park if you have the chance. By the photos it looks amazing already!!

Over and Out!

Brooklyn Botanic Garden |Weiss & Manfredi| Sustainable Architecture

One of the main topics of my thesis research is based on sustainability, mainly because i'm working in an illegal residential area located on the periphery of Lisbon (Portugal's Capital) and the "green" is losing importance everyday. I'm trying to configure a urban plan that is supported primarily on green structures and public spaces for the local community.

That's why i'm posting this interesting project i found, a Botanic Garden located in Brooklyn City. It as been recognized by the New York City Public Design Commission with an award of Excellent Design.

Those are two of the Architectural team Renders:

This glass construction appears as a seamless extension of the existing topography, assumed as an architectural presence on the street facade transforming itself in a structured landscape when   it's spreading inside the garden. It incorporates numerous environmental sustainable features of which stand the living roof.

The curved glass walls of the Visitor Center offer veiled views into the Garden, their fritted glass filtering light. In contrast to the southern face of the building, the north side is built into a preexisting berm, which increases thermal efficiency. Its clerestory glazing—along with the fritted glass on the south walls— minimizes heat gain and maximizes natural illumination. A geoexchange system heats and cools the interior spaces, and a series of rain gardens collect and filter runoff to improve storm-water management.

The green roof will change throughout the year, literally transforming the nature of the architecture each season. 

Nearly 60,000 plants were installed around the Visitor Center, including cherry, magnolia, and tupelo trees; viburnums; native roses; and three rain gardens full of water-loving plants. In combination with the green roof, this ambitious installation seamlessly weaves the Center into the green tapestry of the Garden.

It is a perfect symbiosis between architecture and landscape and how can we use nature to benefit and maximize constructions functions and utilities.

Materials: Architectural cast-in-place concrete; curtain wall of custom-fritted insulated glass and aluminum; canopy of custom-fritted laminated glass and stainless steel, architectural exposed structural steel, custom copper roof, green roof, wood paneling milled from ginkgo trees harvested on-site; specialty acoustic ceiling and wall panels

Hope you enjoyed it. Over and Out!

Architect|ART|

I just found this picture and immediately feel in love with it, so why not share it with you? Can you imagine how boring our planet would be without Art? Architecture is just another art form, and therefore it contributes to make earth a little less grey. 

Don't be afraid to experiment, to take risks and even to make mistakes; you will have a great time in the process, guaranteed. Over and Out!

Possaco House - Comporta |ARX PORTUGAL|

I am going to show you one finalist project on the contest Building of the Year, set by the website "plataforma arquitectura". 

The studio that developed this small house, with aproximatly 200 square meters, is the portuguese ARX PORTUGAL. The intervention area is located in the village of Possanco, Alentejo (centre/interior of Portugal). 

The paradigms of traditional architecture of the region, the white walls (lime) and the roofs with two garrets were the starting point of the design. Plus the triangular shape of the lot was a big constrain regarding the roof solution. 

How to design a two garret roofing in a triangular volume?

The answer was assuming that "cut" on the lot and replicate it on the house volume, it's easy to understand this process in the models scheme below.

Another paradox that the team faced was related with the view; the most interesting one was standing north and not south, where the windows should be placed in the search for natural light. In south there were street, traffic and passers-by that the owners wanted to avoid.

The solutions were found in another traditional paradigm of the architecture: the patio.

The building response is almost exclusively based on the Alentejo repertoire; white-matter, light-shade, thickness/mass and texture.  

Tranquilizing and very inspiring vacation house isn't it? The simplicity of lines and angles is amazing, the sharp edges opposing the bucolic view is overwhelming.

Hope you enjoy it. Over and Out!