Category: Architecture

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Oporto Vodafone Office Building Portugal |Architecture

Photo credits: Paulo Lima

The Oporto Vodafone Office Building project in Porto, Portugal, is not a new project. Completed in 2009, this Building  has recently been awarded first prize in design blog Arch Daily’s 2010 Building of the Year Awards. The boldness in its façade design can not be missed, the fluidity and irregularity makes it a memorable building.

Photo credits: Paulo Lima

Four years after the conclusion of Vodafone Lisbon headquarter, Vodafone decided to build in Porto, a new building, which allows concentrate in only one place, their workers. In  July of 2006, Vodafone launched a competition, inviting fifty Portuguese architects’ teams, being the proposal submitted by Barbosa & Guimarães the winning one.

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Nadim Ghazale Villa in Lebanon| Residential Design

This project in particular has sentimental value to me. The Ghazale Residence is three-story villa which is a collaborative work between architect Gilbert Zarka and myself, Sahar Ghazale.

Located in Chtoura, in the beautiful Bekaa Valley in Lebanon, this residence stands out in terms of design. It is the only such architecture in the area, as opposed to the traditional designs surrounding it.

 

On the exterior facades, we used Basalt stone in both white and grey, and Béton brut (architectural concrete). You will notice several volumetric elements such as concrete pergolas, a 13m high chimney and high glass structures allowing as much light as possible into the house. One of the main features of the garden is the shallow pool with fountains and teak wood pergolas.

 

 

In more than one area there are double height voids and skylights. Even the basement enjoys natural sunlight through a garden continuing from the exterior to the interior. The main entrance boasts a long runway of stamped concrete in two different grey tones with contracting white sea stones flanking from both sides leading to  a 3meter high solid walnut main  door.

 

 

The owner is a person who loves his garden and cherishes every single plant, thus requested numerous water features and a beautiful olive tree he raised on a separate hill. Palm trees which are usually synonymous with humid and hot areas such as the gulf, composed a large portion of the plantation in the garden of this villa, something which is unusual for this specific location.

 

 

The interior design is a continuation of the exterior. The basalt stone continues to the inside on numerous walls. A red wall supports the main staircase. Apart from that all finishes are in neutral tones indicating luxury and simplicity. Wood used on the ground level is Palisander which contrasts beautifully with the dark tinted walnut doors. All doors were in the form of panels reaching ceiling height.

Most of the furniture used was from Roche Bobois, which is the owner’s favorite brand. Ceiling design is very simple. Lighting is mainly in the form of indirect lighting, halogen spotlights highlighted certain areas for warmer color effect. In future posts I will be introducing more interior photos of the different rooms on the upper floors.

For further information you can contact me directly on my contact page or email.

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Barbie’s Latest Career is Architecture

 

There’s a new doll coming to the Barbie I Can Be… line this Fall 2011. It’s the Barbie I Can Be…Architect. The Barbie I Can Be line is truly showing girls that they can be anything they want to. From a vet or a movie star to a news anchor or an architect. In the 50 years of her career, this is the first time Barbie is an architect.

Girls can imagine designing their very own Dream House with Barbie® I Can Be…™ Architect.  Ready to tackle the daily responsibilities of a real architect in or out of the office, Barbie® I Can Be…™ Architect includes a hard hat and a set of blue prints. Wearing an architecturally inspired dress showcasing a city skyline, Barbie® doll’s outfit is symmetrically stylish with bold colors and clean lines.  In designing this doll, Barbie®  partnered with the American Institute of Architects to keep Barbie®  I Can Be… ™ Architect  doll  authentic to the career.

 

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El Ateneo Grand Splendid, A Book Lover’s Dream

Named by The Guardian in its 2008 list of the World’s ten best bookshops, El Ateneo in Buenos Aires captured the awe of tourists and book lovers alike because of its grandiose architecture.

Built in 1919 by an Italian architect in the eclectic style, the theater entertained Buenos Aires for a decade with top-tier tango concerts, before it was converted into a popular cinema. In 2000, the building was leased by a publishing house and found new life as a bookstore. The amphitheater’s former 1,050-person seating area now contains El Ateneo’s 120,000 book titles. The beautiful central dome retains the original Romantic-style frescos by Italian, Nazareno Orlandi celebrating the end of the First World War.

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New UAE Parliament Building Complex | Architecture

Ehrlich Architects have won first prize in the international design competition for the Federal National Council’s ‘New Parliament Building Complex’ in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The entry beat out a number of internationally recognized firms including Foster + Partners, Massimiliano Fuksas architects, and Zaha Hadid Architects.

The New Parliament embodies the unique identity of the United Arab Emirates:  a modern society moving boldly into the future while retaining a strong connection to its history and traditions. “The New Parliament Building Complex will balance Islamic Heritage with U.A.E.’s global contemporary aspirations, where modernity and tradition are in harmonious balance,” explains Ehrlich Architects’ Design Principal, Steven Ehrlich, FAIA, RIBA. “The architecture for the FNC’s new home will communicate its increasingly vital role in the lives of all United Arab Emirates citizens.”

The winning entry for the new Parliament building melds familiar Arabic design language with contemporary form and the latest technological advances, creating meaning, maximum functionality and environmental sustainability. The design is anchored by a striking 100-meter-diameter dome structure, a soaring “flower-of-the-desert” which will create a shaded micro-environment while casting Islamic patterns of dappled light onto the white marble Assembly Hall.

The flanking Parliamentary buildings that house the majority of the offices, meeting halls, and visitors’ program, abstract the colors and textures of desert sand; the exterior expression of these structures is indebted to local historic buildings. In total, the complex will be a proud landmark for public gatherings as well as a model for conservation of the region’s precious resources.The site of the new Parliament conveys its significance as a public institution. It is located on Abu Dhabi Corniche, one of the grand processional boulevards in the country’s capital, where important civic events and celebrations take place. Facing the Arabian Gulf, the body of water shared by six of the seven Emirates, the new FNC complex will establish a governmental face at the seafront. Its dome will be visible for miles across the water and will glow dramatically at night.

Source: designboom & Ehrlich Architects

Project info via designboom

Client: Federal National Council, United Arab Emirates
Design team: Steven Ehrlich, Patricia Rhee, Noah Marble, Guelsah Kuecuek, Laura Hudson, Jackie Park, Won Jin Park, Yimon Lim, Zhong Huang, Jules Hartzell, Ann-Christine Pineiro (graphic design)
Local architect: Godwin Austen Johnson
GAJ design team: Jason Burnside, Brain Johnson, Isabel Pintado, Branka Saric, Christina Morgan, Tzumei Steward, Cormac Lynch, Iain Stewart, Angelita Alves, Aandrew barley, Alberto Bolonos, Simon chambers, Pallavi Dean, Bharani Dharan, Graeme Fisher, Ian Jorolan, Hallam Lowmass, Mehrnaz Mohamadloo, Shounak Patne, Jacinda Raniolo, Vic Raymond Tanedo, Vinodh Vellapan, Jason Ward
Landscape architect: Valleycrest Design Group, Michael Braden
Structural engineer: Gifford
MEP engineer: Scott Wilson Group
Quantity survey: Baker Wilkins & Smith
Renderings: Biolinia
Model: The Model Shop

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Villa Kian in Iran | Minimalist Residence Design

Those who know me as a designer know how much I appreciate traditional design, yet the style I am passionate about is the minimal modern. To see such a structure in Iran, a country known for and rich in culture and history is magnificent!

Villa Kiani is located in Mohammad Shahr region, near Karaj city, Iran. The 500sq.m residence has a 4000 sq.m garden and was designed by Makan Rahmanian and Kamran Heirati. The volumes of this villa along with the beautiful planes of the garden complement the high ceilings and high glass facades. Everything is minimal, yet luxurious through the use of the finishes and the sleek architectural lines.

 

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Salvador Dali Museum Opens on 11.1.11 11:11

“ Each morning when I awake, I experience again a supreme pleasure – that of being Salvador Dali.” Salvador Dali

On a date that would have been perfect for the famous artist Salvador Dali, a museum holding his name and works opens in St. Petersburg, Florida. HOK, along with Beck Group, has designed a new museum with an architecture greatly inspired by the great surrealist, “combines elements of the classical and the fantastical,” according to the director of the museum. The design speaks to the essence of Dalí while incorporating functional elements to combat Florida’s tough weather.

The new $36 million, 66,450-square-foot museum Dali Museum houses more of the artist’s works than any other museum outside Spain, including a permanent collection of 96 oil paintings (including the 8 masterworks), 125 drawings and watercolors, 2,500 prints and photographs, 250 objets d’art, and a 5,000 book library.

While the concrete protects the art, this “treasure box” is broken and disrupted by the organic, triangulated glass “Enigma.”    The glass is seen as “contrast between the rational world of the conscious and the more intuitive, surprising natural world” – a recurring theme of Dalí’s work.

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Eiffel Tower A French Beauty | Icons

 

Life has a beautiful slide show of the Eiffel tower’s history and what it has passed through since it was being constructed. An Icon so strong it has become the symbol of an an entire country. I will leave you enjoy the images and their description. You can check the original slide show here.

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