Located beside the Seine to the south of the city, the Évry Water-Treatment Plant was first established in the 1970s. Following a design competition in 2003, AWP developed a new masterplan for the site, adding four new buildings and a surrounding landscape of trees and gardens that will all be accesible to visitors.

Each of the buildings has a prefabricated concrete structure, with timber screens wrapping the upper sections to soften the industrial appearance of the facades. These screens surround large external ducts, as well as a number of balcony corridors.

The smallest of the four buildings functions as an entrance and exhibition centre for tourists, who will be able to tour the plant when it opens to the public later this year.

We've featured a few water-treatment plants designed by architects on Dezeen, including a combined garden and plant in Germany and a floating island that purifies river water.

See more industrial buildings »
See more architecture in France »

Photography is by Anna Positano.

Here's a project description from AWP:

Water-Treatment Plant, Évry

Construction and renovation of four industrial buildings and a water park

Located on the Seine river front, close to a key metropolitan route (the Francilienne), Évry water depuration plant is a major infrastructural element that is at once symbolic and highly functional, reflecting environmental, technical and urban considerations.

The first plant was built in the 70s and the aim of this renovation is to increase and optimise its capacity. The urban dimension of the equipment has guided us towards a strategy of opening-up and hospitality. Previously rejected and hidden, this infrastructure is now relocated on the urban scene, so as to have a public role and to become symbolic. Regularly open to visitors, this equipment will become both a landmark and an experiential water filtering park.

The formal strategy consists of a main axis along the river where gardens, new buildings and tanks are located. Buildings will be renovated and their façades completely redesigned as urban scale filters.

Location: Évry, France
Client: Communauté d'agglomération d'Évry
Architects: AWP (leading architect) + Ithaques

Team AWP: Marc Armengaud, Matthias Armengaud, Alessandra Cianchetta (partners), Miguel La Parra Knapman, Joseph Jabbour, David Perez (project team)

Engineering: Bonnard & Gardel (leading engineer)
Net surface: 6000 sqm (buildings)
Budget: €42 million
Competition: 2003
Delivery: 2012

The post Water-Treatment Plant
by AWP appeared first on Dezeen.

Completed at the end of 2012, the 50,000-square-metre Antinori Winery was conceived as an invisible building whose body merges with the folds of the hillside. The tiered roof is entirely covered with farmland and a pair of sliced openings infilled with glass are all that reveal the presence of the structure.

"The physical and intellectual construction of the winery pivots on the profound and deep-rooted ties with the land, a relationship which is so intense and suffered as to make the architectural image conceal itself and blend into it," says Archea Associati.

The interior of the winery is divided into two main storeys. The lowest levels are dedicated to the storage and production of wine, while the upper level contains visitor facilities that include a museum, a library, an auditorium and areas for wine tasting and shopping.

Circular openings pierce the roof and floors to bring light into the depths of the building. One void contains a spiralling staircase, which connects an upper-level terrace with the vaults below.

These double-height cellars are arranged in three rows and are lined with terracotta on every side. The architects describe the rooms as "the secluded heart of the winery [that] with its darkness and the rhythmic sequence of the terracotta vaults, [conveys] the sacral dimension of a space which is hidden."

The building uses the earth as a natural insulator to maintain a constant indoor climate and keep the wine cool during the warmer summer months.

Other wineries completed in recent years include a partially submerged sandstone winery in Spain and the rusted-steel Chateau Barde-Haut in France. See more wineries on Dezeen.

Here's a project description from Archea Associati:

Antinori Winery
San Casciano Val di Pesa, Italia, 2004-2012

The site is surrounded by the unique hills of Chianti, covered with vineyards, half-way between Florence and Siena. A cultured and illuminated customer has made it possible to pursue, through architecture, the enhancement of the landscape and the surroundings as expression of the cultural and social valence of the place where wine is produced.

The functional aspects have therefore become an essential part of a design itinerary which centres on the geomorphological experimentation of a building understood as the most authentic expression of a desired symbiosis and merger between anthropic culture, the work of man, his work environment and the natural environment.

The physical and intellectual construction of the winery pivots on the profound and deep-rooted ties with the land, a relationship which is so intense and suffered (also in terms of economic investment) as to make the architectural image conceal itself and blend into it.

The purpose of the project has therefore been to merge the building and the rural landscape; the industrial complex appears to be a part of the latter thanks to the roof, which has been turned into a plot of farmland cultivated with vines, interrupted, along the contour lines, by two horizontal cuts which let light into the interior and provide those inside the building with a view of the landscape through the imaginary construction of a diorama. The facade, to use an expression typical of buildings, therefore extends horizontally along the natural slope, paced by the rows of vines which, along with the earth, form its "roof cover".

The openings or cuts discreetly reveal the underground interior: the office areas, organized like a belvedere above the barricade, and the areas where the wine is produced are arranged along the lower, and the bottling and storage areas along the upper.

The secluded heart of the winery, where the wine matures in barrels, conveys, with its darkness and the rhythmic sequence of the terracotta vaults, the sacral dimension of a space which is hidden, not because of any desire to keep it out of sight but to guarantee the ideal thermo-hygrometric conditions for the slow maturing of the product.

A reading of the architectural section of the building reveals that the altimetrical arrangement follows both the production process of the grapes which descend (as if by gravity) – from the point of arrival, to the fermentation tanks to the underground barrel vault – and that of the visitors who on the contrary ascend from the parking area to the winery and the vineyards, through the production and display areas with the press, the area where vinsanto is aged, to finally reach the restaurant and the floor hosting the auditorium, the museum, the library, the wine tasting areas and the sales outlet.

The offices, the administrative areas and executive offices, located on the upper level, are paced by a sequence of internal court illuminated by circular holes scattered across the vineyard-roof. This system also serves to provide light for the guesthouse and the caretaker's dwelling.

The materials and technologies evoke the local tradition with simplicity, coherently expressing the theme of studied naturalness, both in the use of terracotta and in the advisability of using the energy produced naturally by the earth to cool and insulate the winery, creating the ideal climatic conditions for the production of wine.

Location: Bargino, San Casciano Val di Pesa, Firenze
Programme: Winery, offices, museum, auditorium, restaurant, viability, manoeuvring and green areas, depuration
Cost: €85.052.831 (excluding winemaking plants and landscaping)

Beginning of design: 2004
Opening of building site: 2007
Completion date 25 October: 2012

Client: Marchesi Antinori srl
Architectral Design: Archea Associati (Laura Andreini, Marco Casamonti, Silvia Fabi, Giovanni Polazzi)
Artistic supervision: Marco Casamonti, Francesco Giordani
Engineering: HYDEA
Bulding site supervisor: Paolo Giustiniani
Structural design: AEI Progetti
Design of plants: M&E Management & Engineering
Oenological plants: Emex Engineering Marchesi Antinori
General contractor: Inso

The post Antinori Winery by
Archea Associati appeared first on Dezeen.

Architects Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of SANAA were asked to replace an old factory hall with a larger facility to accommodate production and distribution for Vitra's shop-fitting company Vitrashop.

The new single-storey building features a circular plan that can be subdivided to allow separate operations to take place simultaneously. The main section of the production hall is used for product assembly, while the northern side provides a stockroom for materials and the southern end is used for the storage of finished products.

The undulating plastic cladding encases the entire facade, concealing the building's prefabricated concrete and steel structure. Each acrylic component comprises a transparent exterior and an opaque white inner layer, and was vacuum-moulded to create the wavy shape.

Loading bays are distributed around the perimeter and can be converted into offices if necessary. There are also a few windows positioned along the tops of the walls, plus skylights help to bring more natural light in through the roof.

The SANAA-designed Factory Building joins structures by a host of internationally renowned architects on the site, including Herzog & de Meuron's VitraHaus showroom, the Vitra Design Museum by Frank Gehry, a conference hall by Tadao Ando and a fire station by Zaha Hadid.

First established in the 1980s, the Vitra Campus has become well-known as an unofficial museum of contemporary architecture. The next building proposed for the site is a children's art workshop by Chilean architect Ale­jan­dro Ar­ave­na.

See more buildings at the Vitra Campus, or see a selection of furniture produced by Vitra.

Photography is by Julien Lanoo, apart from where otherwise stated.

Here's a more detailed project description from Vitra:

Development of the Vitra Campus

After 1993 – the year in which Tadao Ando's Conference Pavilion and the Fire Station by Zaha Hadid were completed, followed by the dedication of Álvaro Siza's factory hall one year later – no new buildings were constructed on the Vitra Campus in Weil am Rhein for more than a decade. A new expansion phase began in 2006 with commissions assigned to Herzog & de Meuron and the Japanese architectural team SANAA. The Basel-based architects were entrusted with the VitraHaus project on a site outside of the actual production compound in the northern corner of the Campus. The VitraHaus, which opened in early 2010, serves as a presentation venue for the Vitra Home Collection and marks the entrance to the company premises together with Frank Gehry's Vitra Design Museum. SANAA began to plan a production facility for Vitrashop – a shop fitting company within the Vitra Group – on the south side of the Campus. The completion of these two new buildings also achieved a partial restructuring of the Campus grounds by separating operational logistics from public visitor traffic. The central axis leading to the Hadid Fire Station is now mainly used by visitors, while deliveries and dispatches are primarily routed through the access road that lies on the eastern side of the premises.

A production facility without a role model

Almost all of the major projects that SANAA has completed up until now have been buildings for cultural institutions or universities. In Weil am Rhein – with the first industrial facility to be designed by SANAA – the idea was to apply a similar approach to the construction of a production hall.

The plan for the new structure was initiated by the desire of Vitra's management to replace an old factory building near the southern corner of the premises that had survived the great fire in 1981 with only minor damage. The extant building was not only showing its age, but was also too small for current demands. The new facility was to provide 20,000 square metres of floor area – compared to 12,000 square metres in the old structure.

The architectural brief presented to SANAA by the company management specified a division of the total space into four separate areas that could operate independently from one another, but would also provide optimal conditions for operations that required use of the entire space. After making a detailed analysis of the brief, SANAA suggested that the preliminary decisions be revised, replacing the four orthogonal volumes that were correlated to the existing grid of the Campus with a single circular building. This proposal, which at first seemed unusual, was based on the realization that logistics and production methods no longer adhere to strictly hierarchical principles, but require flexibility. This was especially true in the case of the future occupants of the new facility, the shop fitting company Vitrashop. Although Vitrashop primarily utilizes standard components in the interiors that it creates for retail and commercial customers, the elements are customized to suit the specifications and desires of the individual clients. This contradicts a strictly linear flow of goods and fabrication methods. Consequently, the interior of the hall is divided into different zones: the northern section provides high rack storage for delivered materials and semi-finished goods; the central zone is reserved for assembly operations; and the southern section contains the storage area for finished products prior to shipping. The circular footprint of the building permits the delivery and loading of goods in completely different locations, so that the flow of traffic inside the hall is reduced, optimized and simplified. The assembly zone in the middle of the building can also be variably configured to meet new requirements based on current orders.

A circular footprint is unusual for a factory building, but all of the conditions in Weil favoured this solution, so that SANAA was able to convince the client to accept their proposal. Another ideal feature of the circular structure is the proportional relationship of the façade's surface area to the volume of the interior space.

With a diameter of more than 160 metres, the round production hall – which in fact does not circumscribe an exact circle – covers a greater surface area than any other building on the Vitra Campus. Measuring 11.4 metres in height, the hall contains a basement storey in the southeastern half with a spacious underground parking garage and several auxiliary rooms. The building was erected in two stages in order to minimize interference with daily operations. The first semi-circular structure was erected next to the old factory, which was subsequently demolished to make room for the corresponding second half that completed the plan. The façade and the diameter wall that separates the two halves of the building are made of prefabricated concrete elements. Positioned as upright rectangles, the double- walled concrete elements were filled on site, thereby connecting them with one another. Due to the enormous dimensions of the perimeter, it was unnecessary for the individual elements to be curved. Together with the central wall, the round shape creates a perfect, rigid structure, which contains an orthogonal steel framework in its interior. The roof construction is supported by 9.5 metre-high steel columns positioned in a grid based on units of 17.5 x 22.8 metres. Since the exterior concrete walls brace the structure, it was possible to minimize the dimensions of the interior columns.

One of the major challenges for the architects was to find a solution for the installation of complex building technology – electronics, ventilation, roof drainage, fire sprinklers etc., which are distributed in different configurations throughout the interior space – that was compatible with the filigree components of the hall's support structure. This problem was solved with astonishing precision, resulting in an interior that is clearly different from typical factory spaces. The architects did not treat this interior as a multifunctional, flexible empty space within the shell of a façade, but as a central aspect of the architectural task. Every detail, right down to the screws in the high rack storage shelving, reveals the design intentions of the architects, who left nothing to chance. Excellent lighting conditions contribute to the pleasant work atmosphere in the hall, provided by the close rhythm of parallel rooflights in the ceiling. They are augmented by individual windows in the upper part of the façade. Another essential element of the interior's atmospheric quality is the radically reductive use of colour. Various shades of grey and white define the interior space, while the signal colours so common to typical industrial interiors are completely absent.

The shelving system, which is positioned in parallel rows that follow the structural grid of the interior – along with the central wall and sparingly distributed windows – provides a means of orientation in a building with enormous dimensions. The high rack storage system can be removed or reconfigured as needed. The loading bays are arranged on both sides of the building in a space along the façade that also contains offices. The radial arrangement of the partition walls is almost imperceptible due to the huge diameter of the hall. Depending on future needs, loading bays can be transformed into offices or vice versa. A workshop for emission- intensive or high-decibel activities is the only other enclosed room on the eastern side of the hall; the open upper deck serves as a lounge area.

Curtain façade

The design of the façade, whose elements are suspended in front of the exterior insulation on the concrete walls and encompass the entire building volume, presented a great challenge. The façade elements are made of acrylic glass with an undulating surface, measuring 1.8 metres in width by 11 metres in height – equal to the height of the building. The outer layer of acrylic is completely transparent, while the inner layer is an opaque white colour. The individual panels were first cast in flat sheets, then heated to 60 degrees Celsius and vacuum moulded to create the wave structure. Since no manufacturer could be found who was capable of moulding such large pieces, an oven had to be specially constructed for the purpose.

One of the architects' main concerns was to avoid obvious visual repetition. For this reason, three different elements with varying wave patterns of narrower and wider folds were developed. Since the hanging panels – whose mounting hardware is concealed – can be rotated 180 degrees and mounted on either end, this resulted in a series of six distinct types. The aim was to arrange them in a way that avoided a recognizably repetitive pattern and that also conformed perfectly to the openings in the façade (windows, loading bays, doors).

Presenting a homogenous appearance from a distance, with an almost surreal aura due to its luminous white surface, the façade gains vivacity and depth the closer one approaches. Since it is only possible to see just a part of the entire volume, the building appears to be much smaller than it actually is. It gives an impression of lightness and transparency, even though it allows no views into the interior. On the contrary: the building remains an enigma, revealing almost nothing about its function. The almost immaterial character of the factory hall is emphasized by the fact that, from the outside, only the skin of the façade – suggestive of a textile covering – is visible, while the exterior walls, roof and structural framework remain concealed.

Viewed from the outside, one does not recognize – or even suspect – that the geometry of the floor plan deviates from a perfect circle; yet perhaps this unconformity is unconsciously perceptible. Just as SANAA avoids the use of classical symmetry in their architecture, they frequently employ slightly distorted geometric figures. This may recall the aesthetic concept of wabi sabi, the Japanese notion that imperfection and aesthetic consummation are not necessarily contradictory. The subtle shape of the 'Alessi Tea Set' (2004) by SANAA points in this direction. In reference to their project for Vitra, Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa also spoke about transferring some of the liveliness inherent in freehand drawing, which always stands at the beginning of their design process, to the reality of computer calculations. Or in their own words: 'My impression is that the circle, the perfect circle, is a bit too rigid.'

The post Factory Building on the Vitra Campus
by SANAA appeared first on Dezeen.

A new website called Where The Internet Lives offers virtual tours of eight Google data centres around the world as well as a Google Street View tour of its North Carolina outpost.

The internet giant uses the buildings to process huge amounts of data, including three billion Google search queries a day and 72 hours of YouTube videos a minute.

Each data centre is carefully located and designed to benefit from its surrounding environment. The data centre in Hamina, Finland, which occupies a machine hall designed by Alvar Aalto, uses sea water to cool the building and reduce energy usage.

Small yellow bicycles known as G-bikes are used by Google staff to get around the huge buildings.

The colourful pipes are painted in Google's signature bright colours. The blue pipes supply cold water and the red pipes return the warm water back to be cooled.

Bright pink pipes transfer water from the green chillers to an outside cooling tower.

The fibre optic networks connecting Google's sites run along the yellow cable trays near the ceiling and can run at speeds more than 200,000 times faster than a normal home internet connection.

Plastic curtains are hung in the network rooms to act as a barrier, keeping cold air inside to circulate around the machines.

Other Google buildings we've featured on Dezeen include the internet giant's London headquarters and another London office with a seaside theme – see all our stories about Google.

More recently we reported on the Google Web Lab at the Science Museum in London, where visitors can operate robots and play with virtual teleporters.

We previously published photos from inside the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, the particle accelerator constructed in a 27km underground tunnel on the border of France and Switzerland.

See all our stories about Google »

The post Google offers a glimpse inside
its data centres appeared first on Dezeen.

Construction has already begun on the renovation, which includes the addition of two curved greenhouses for growing the ten botanical herbs and spices that Bombay Sapphire use to flavour their spirits. Named Laverstoke Mill, the centre is due to open in autumn 2013.

Thomas Heatherwick has been in the news a lot this week, after his Olympic cauldron was unveiled at the opening ceremony of the games. See all our stories about the designer »

Here's some information from Bombay Sapphire:

Bombay Sapphire Gin Unveils Plans for “Home of Imagination” in Hampshire, UK

Visionary designer Thomas Heatherwick to restore historic site into distillery and visitor center for iconic gin brand

Bombay Sapphire® gin, the world’s number one premium gin by value1, unveils plans for its distillery in Laverstoke Mill, Hampshire. The project is a multi-million pound restoration of the historic buildings which housed one of England’s most significant bank note paper making facilities. The design imagined for the site is headed by acclaimed London designer Thomas Heatherwick and his team at Heatherwick Studio. The site will be completely renovated from a derelict mill into a state of the art premium gin distillery and visitor centre encompassing the highest standards in design, functionality and sustainability.

The distillery will be built on a two hectare brown-field site, near the grounds of Laverstoke Park, just 60 miles from London. For 200 years, the site produced high quality paper for the bank notes of India and the British Empire. The site is steeped in natural beauty, astride the crystal clear River Test - and historically associated with producing the finest quality product through the care and skill of those who owned it and worked there. The newly renovated site will be the first opportunity the public has to discover the home of this iconic spirits brand.

The ambition for the project restores the buildings and grounds and its heritage while introducing a new structure that will complement the existing buildings as a showcase of the brand’s intrinsic quality that reflects the aspirations of the Bombay Sapphire brand. The highlight of the complex build is the glass house for Bombay Sapphire gin’s 10 botanicals. As a major feature of Laverstoke Mill, the glass house is a symbol of the brand’s careful, skillful and imaginative approach to gin making.

Heatherwick comments on the design: “As the particular flavours of Bombay Sapphire gin are derived from ten botanicals, the centrepiece of the site is a glass house, within which visitors will experience the specific horticultural specimens infused in the spirit. The glass house, influenced by Britain's rich heritage of glass house structures, will be two separate structures providing both a humid environment for spices that originate from the tropics, as well as a dry temperate zone for Mediterranean plants. We are thrilled to have the chance to take this historic site, and turn it from its current derelict state into a new industrial facility with national significance.”

The 10 year relationship between the brand and Thomas Heatherwick started when he was crowned the inaugural winner of the Bombay Sapphire Prize – an international award for excellence and innovation in glass. Alongside high profile designers he joined the Bombay Sapphire Foundation, which encourages and rewards the very best in contemporary design and glass design in particular. In 2010, he was approached by the Bombay Sapphire team to design the brand home in Laverstoke.

Bombay Sapphire Global Category Director John Burke adds: “It’s a very exciting time for the Bombay Sapphire team, especially now that we’re seeing our plan for Laverstoke Mill come into fruition. With tradition, quality and craftsmanship at the heart of the site’s heritage, we can finally look forward to opening our doors to consumers worldwide and share with them the care, skill and imagination that is infused in the spirit we produce. Bombay Sapphire gin has experienced great success and growth over the last 10 years and with the opening of the brand’s home and consumer experience, we are very optimistic for next decade.”

In February 2012, planning permission to restore Laverstoke was granted and the build process is now underway and managed by Meller Ltd, with a goal the distillery will open its doors in autumn 2013.

Meller Managing Director, Graham Cartledge adds: “Meller is proud to be leading the development of Laverstoke Mill into a world class production facility and unique visitors centre. Our expert team looks forward to delivering this exceptional project in a way that fulfills Bombay Sapphire’s brand aspirations and also the technical requirements of restoring a site with such heritage, environmental consideration and unique design.”

The post Laverstoke Mill by Thomas Heatherwick
for Bombay Sapphire appeared first on Dezeen.