The residents of the Amsterdam apartment already owned a cabinet from Bo Reudler's Slow White collection, a range of furniture made from tree branches, and asked the designer to style the room around it.

Reudler designed six pairs of shutters to reduce glare from the small square windows, as well as to provide more privacy from the neighbours.

Taking six irregularly shaped planks from a yew tree, the designer used a mix-and-match technique to create each of the panels. Rather than blocking out the light completely, every panel has a crack allows slivers of light to pass through.

Knots in the wood created holes in the planks and are positioned in place of handles.

A table and compass from the Slow White collection were added to the room to complement the cabinet and shutters, alongside the designer's Bamboo Windsor high-back chair, a candle holder from the Haute Bamboo collection and Equus rug, a horse hide with a cutaway Fleur-de-Lis pattern.

See more design by Bo Reudler Studio on Dezeen, including children's furniture shown at Dutch Design Week 2011.

Photography is by Raoul Kramer.

Here's a project description from Bo Reudler Studio:

New Amsterdam interior by Bo Reudler Studio

'There is a crack in everything, That's how the light gets in.' (Leonard Cohen)

For a living room interior in an Amsterdam apartment, Bo Reudler Studio designed six Slow White shutters. The high volume of the space was over flooded with light from six small west-facing windows. The brief called for something to block out glare and at the same time provide privacy from neighbours. The clients already owned a Slow White Cabinet. With this in mind they wondered if the cabinet doors could be translated into something larger: this led to the Slow White shutters.

Using wood as the starting point the aim was not to completely shut out the light but create an interaction with it. By utilising the natural outlines and openings in the wood, each shutter celebrates the material and interacts with the light in a different way. Six planks were selected from a Yew tree native to Western Europe, renowned for its irregular-shaped trunk that produces whimsically shaped planks. The curving natural lines of the planks were mapped like a puzzle to create six pairs of shutters each with their own character. The holes of the knots were positioned as grips for opening and closing. Cracks in the shutters, which are also visible from the exterior, slice the light and admit glimpses of the outside while closed. The shutters bring to the forefront a forgotten building element that was once a common fixture in many homes of the past.

The space is furnished with pieces from the studio including the Slow White table and Golden Compass that highlight the distinguishing curves of natural branches, the Haute Bamboo candleholder and Bamboo Windsor chair, a classic Western chair reinterpreted using the inherent qualities of bamboo and rattan. Resembling oversized lace with its graphic fleur-de-lys pattern cut into the horse hide, the Equus rug initiates an interaction with the floor to either hide it or reveal what's underneath.

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by Bo Reudler Studio appeared first on Dezeen.

Screening the upper levels of a glazed curtain wall, the timber cladding cloaks the facade of the six-storey-high Ipera 25 housing block, creating a system of solar shading for the nine apartments contained inside.

Alataş Architecture & Consulting divided the wall into four long vertical strips, which project forward and backwards at different points to allow slices of glass to emerge from between each of the timber panels.

"The fractures and surface variations on the facade - wider than the architectural structures in the area - not only emerge as a contemporary interpretation of the bay windows of the surrounding buildings, but also allow the facade to be perceived in a more fragmented and ergonomic manner," architect Ahmet Alataş told Dezeen.

Two one-bedroom apartments are contained on each of the first four floors. Living rooms are positioned at the front of every home and residents can open and close different shutters independently.

"The wooden elements allow a view of the street and create a bay window effect that establishes a link between home life and life on the street," said Alataş.

A two-storey penthouse is located on the uppermost floors of the building, beneath an angled ceiling that follows the pitch of the roof.

Other recently completed housing blocks include a building with a pleated facade on the Canary Islands and an apartment block with diagonally stepped floors and ceilings in Japan. See more housing on Dezeen.

Here's some more explanation from Alataş Architecture & Consulting:

The building is located on Tatarbeyi Sokak, is one of the most virginal and underdeveloped streets of the rapidly transforming Galata District under conservation. Comprised of eight 80-m2 studio flats and one 190-m2 penthouse up for sale, it has a total surface area of 1000 m2.

The building is a residential project that extends beyond the conventional codes of the already-built environment, yet manages to reproduce these codes, respecting the existing architectural fabric.

In this regard, it continues to find new solutions to the existing problems of architecture by utilizing contemporary technologies and taking into consideration the newly burgeoning socio-economic structure of the region, as well as the infrastructure, environmental conditions, climate, and solar movements.

The building is comprised of a wooden shell that covers the largely transparent living area in an uncompromising manner and set between two blind and extremely thin exposed concrete curtain walls.

The wooden components on the front elevation run parallel to the glass facade that evolves into a saddle roof and entirely cover the front and back of the building. Perceived as a gigantic blind facade from one perspective, yet appearing as a translucent veil from the other, the wooden surface also functions as a sun filter.

Comprised of parallel horizontal laths that angle at various points, the wooden element divides the facade into four as the middle segments expand outwards, towards the street; leaving the sides exposed, the wooden elements thus allow a view of the street and create a bay window effect that establishes a link between home life and life on the street.

While the building almost disregards the relationship with the street by refusing to repeat the conventional window spans in the neighborhood, it nonetheless revives its place within the context by reinterpreting the traditional bay window structure on the street.

Behind its impressive presence on the street, the building displays a plain and statuesque appearance that simultaneously blends into and stands out against the context without competing with the neighboring historic buildings in its critical approach.

As the design is concretized, the concept of the transparent surface of the wooden veil covering the two facades and the roof between two walls is maintained throughout without any qualms. The dilapidated appearance of the neighbouring building at arm's length is perceived as part of the view and the transparent surface is not even partially compromised.

While this attitude and the spatial relationship of the interior and the exterior expands the interior volumes of the 80-m2 flats – born out of the new lifestyle needs and culture – towards the facade of the buildings across the street, the translucent nature of the building's shell allows the street to feel broader and more spacious.

Architects: Alataş Architecture & Consulting
Location: Galata, İstanbul, Turkey
Design Team: Ahmet Alataş, Emre Açar

Architectural Group: Özge Güngör Ülüğ, Dilan Yüksel, Emir Elmaslar, Gabriella Colacicco
Area: 1,100 sqm
Year: 2011

Site plan - click for larger image

Ground floor plan - click for larger image

First-third floor plan - click for larger image

Fourth floor plan - click for larger image

Fifth floor plan - click for larger image

Cross-section - click for larger image

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& Consulting appeared first on Dezeen.

Continuing our series of stories about security-conscious and bunker-like residences, here's an Australian holiday home that can be secured with huge sliding steel shutters.

Designed by architects Bourne Blue, the single-storey house in New South Wales surrounds a decked courtyard.

Openings in each of the facades lead to the central courtyard, where entrances to the house are located.

The corrugated metal shutters fasten across the fronts of the corridor openings, as well as around the courtyard-facing elevations.

When the shutters are open these corridors serve as external rooms, filled with hammocks and a dining table.

The openings divide the house into four blocks, separated into living rooms, a set of children's rooms and two separate en suite bedrooms.

The house is the latest in a string of Australian houses on Dezeen - click here to see more.

Another recent story to feature steel shutters was an apartment block in New York by architect Shigeru Ban - see our earlier story.

See also: more stories about bunkers and other fortified buildings.

Photography is by Simon Whitbread.

Here are some more details from Bourne Blue Architecture:

Project Description

This site, just behind the sand dunes of Diamond Beach on the mid north coast of NSW, is very flat and has a modest view over wetlands. The proximity of the ocean would enable a beachside lifestyle, however the house couldn’t access ocean views to provide the amenity.

The design therefore needed to work in this context and provide the amenity from within. This is a holiday house for a large family, who frequently travel away with other families, so facilities for 10 – 15 people were required.

A covenant on the land dictated that the house was to built using brick and tile.

The design is comprised of four components, wrapping around a central court. Living space, two different adult sleeping areas and a kids area.

The living space has a slab for thermal mass and faces North. The two adult sleeping areas are identical parental retreats at opposite corners, while the kids area has a boys and girls bunkroom and a TV area.

Each of the four components is separated by a roofed deck, which either houses hammocks, a dining space or the entry. A monopitch roof wraps around the courtyard, over all these spaces, simplifying roof drainage and providing unity.

Click above for larger image

Sliding screens of perforated mini orb close off the roofed decks at the edge of the building, so that they are secure when the house is not in use. They also screen the undesirable sun and weather. A second set of screens wrap around the internal courtyard which also protect against inclement weather and cater for prolonged absences.

Architect – Bourne Blue Architecture
Engineer – Izzat Consulting Engineers
Builder – Sugar Creek Building Co.
Completion – 2010
Cost - $520,000 incl tax
Area – 169m2

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Bourne Blue Architecture appeared first on Dezeen.

After hours, rolling metal shutters fasten across these New York apartments designed by Japanese architect Shigeru Ban.

Surrounded by art galleries in a West Chelsea neighbourhood, the Metal Shutter Houses rise above a gallery on the ground floor.

The eleven-storey block contains eight duplex apartments, each with balconies facing the street.

Activated by a motor, individual perforated shutters slide over each balcony to entirely conceal the glazed facades of the apartments behind.

A central elevator provides access to the apartments, which each have private lobbies before their front doors.

Early renderings of the building were published on Dezeen back in 2007 - see our earlier story to compare.

Another recently featured Shigeru Ban project was a temporary housing block made from shipping containers - see all our stories about Shigeru Ban here. The block also shares fortress-like characteristics with a Polish house featured on Dezeen last month.

Photography is by Michael Moran.

Here are some more details from the architects:

Metal Shutter Houses

Location

The Metal Shutter Houses, designed by the internationally renowned Japanese architect, Shigeru Ban, are located on the south side of West 19th Street, between 10th and 11th Avenues in West Chelsea’s art gallery district, steps away from the High Line, the Hudson River, Chelsea Piers, and the Hudson River Park. The block offers a bold display of the new New York: the Frank Gehry-designed IAC Headquarters are next door and Jean Nouvel’s 100 11th is across the street. Low-profile warehouse buildings throughout the neighborhood allow for long city views, including the Empire State building, from each floor of the Metal Shutter Houses.

Click above for larger image

Building

This marks the first new construction condominium residences in the United States by Ban. Known for his “poetic” architectural style, Ban has tailored what could be characterized as contextual invention to this unique 11 story structure. Such highly sensitive ingenuity has been seen in some of his previous house designs, such as the Curtain Wall House (Tokyo, Japan), the Paper House (Yamanashi, Japan), and more recently, the Furniture House 5 (Sagaponac, New York). While Ban’s work is continually so inventive that one cannot generalize his “look,” the Metal Shutter Houses' variable façade demonstrates Ban's fascination with use of unusual materials (or use of common materials in new contexts) and mobility of parts, often inspired by the simplicity of traditional Japanese architecture as well as the modern lines of the International school.

The Metal Shutter Houses is a dynamic building. The façade's motorized perforated metal shutters serve as light-modulating privacy screen at the outer edge of each residence’s terrace adjacent to the double-height living rooms. This subtle “removable skin” echoes the neighboring gallery after-hours shutters, subtly contextualizing the building within its site. The building can literally become a uniform minimal cube, or it can open completely (as well as virtually unlimited permutations between). South of the loggia, twenty foot tall, upwardly pivoting open completely, thus blurring the boundary between the inside and outside – the double height living room and loggia become one. Similarly, a series of interior sliding glass doors create an open "universal floor" in each of the duplex houses – one vast and uninterrupted expanse which transitions seamlessly from inside to outside, or partition the space into private areas.

Residences

» 11 stories featuring 8 duplex houses, an art gallery and lobby on the ground floor.
» 3 three-bedroom “single-bay” duplex houses with 1,949 sq. ft. interior space (including the 80 sq. ft. double height loggia) and two 70 sq. ft. south balconies.
» 3 four-bedroom “double-bay” duplex houses with 2,700 sq. ft. interior space (including the 160 sq. ft. loggia) and two 93 sq. ft. south balconies.
» 1 five-bedroom East West house with 4,644 sq. ft. interior space with 47’ wide living room (including the 240 sq.ft. double height loggia), two 70 sq.ft and two 93 sq.ft, south balconies.
» 1 four-bedroom “triple bay” duplex penthouse with 3,319 sq. ft. interior space, 750 sq. ft.¹ north entertainment terrace, 162 sq. ft. master bedroom terrace, two 137 sq. ft.¹ south balconies and 677 sq. ft. exclusive roof deck with garden shed.

Residence features

» All units are floor through duplexes.
» Private elevator vestibule.
» Solid ¾” quarter sawn 4½” white oak flooring throughout living areas.
» North, South and West (select residences) exposures.
» Great room with double height 20’ceiling --ideal for displaying large works of art.
» Shigeru Ban designed perforated metal shutters to enclose loggia – allowing for adjustable light control and privacy.
» 20’ floor-to-ceiling upward pivoting glass walls allow for great light air, views, and a seamless transition to double height outdoor space.
» Flexible use library/bedroom 3 or 4 with balcony and sliding glass walls.
» Highly flexible lower level entertaining floor -- the sliding glass walls provide seamless access from the rear library terrace all the way to the double height terrace in the front, or close for privacy.
» Study overlooking double height living room with Ban designed white lacquer desk in matte finish (select residences).
» Floor-to-ceiling white lacquer cabinetry in matte finish custom designed by Shigeru Ban provides unique and ample storage space in living areas and bedrooms.
» Shigeru Ban designed die cast Aluminum door levers by Oshima in white zincart finish.
» Radiant floor heating in double height living room.
» High performance 4 pipe fan coil heating and air conditioning (multi-zoned) for year round individual control and comfort.
» Cable/satellite television ready, CAT 6 telecommunications wiring throughout each unit.
» Miele washer and dryer.

Team

Design architects: Shigeru Ban Architects + Dean Maltz Architect
Interiors: Shigeru Ban Architects + Dean Maltz Architect
Executive Architect: Montroy DeMarco, LLP
Developers: HEEA Development LLC, a development of Spiritos Properties and Klemens Gasser
Exclusive Marketing &
Sales Agent: Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group

Address: 524 West 19th Street, New York, NY 10019

See also:

.

Multi-storey temporary housing by Shigeru Ban	Dellis Cay villas by Shigeru Ban	Dezeen interviews Shigeru Ban

The post Metal Shutter Houses by Shigeru Ban Architects
and Dean Maltz Architect appeared first on Dezeen.

Swiss architects Group8 have completed this residential block covered in pink sun screens in Geneva.

Called Coral House, the project has a glazed facade that can be covered by fabric sunshades, which roll up into the window frames when not in use.

The building includes 58 housing units and two floors of commercial space, spread over five storeys and a basement level.

More about Group8 on Dezeen »

Photographs are by Régis Golay, FEDERAL studio.

The information below is from Group8:

The site

The Coral house is located in the Chandieu area, formed by a large urban block surrounded by Rue Giuseppe-Motta, Grand-Pré and Chandieu. The site is accessible by the main road Grand-Pré, this avenue lined with trees, cuts straight though the building block. The future underground parking will be accessible by the entrance of the adjacent building, the Azure center, located on the Grand-Pré road.

This new housing estate takes part of the regeneration of a former industrial site and completes, together with the Bamboo Residence, a large city block. At the intersection of the avenue and the Chandieu road, a public square supplemented by a fountain and a sculpture will be built in collaboration between the artiste Fabric Gygi and the architectural office ADR.

The building

The building consists of 6 floors, including a double attic (duplex apartments) and a single basement level. Coral house offers 58 housing units, from 4 to 6 room flats (kitchen counted as a room). The ground floor and the first floor are dedicated to commercial activities.

The construction aims to high quality standards in terms of space and equipments, as well as construction materials and coating. It also seeks the MINERGIE label, by using optimum insulation for the exterior envelope, and highly efficient technical installations (heating is provided by geothermal heat pumps; double flux air system is distributed through the ceiling – ERV). The use of a high energy standard allowed use to obtain 10 % additional net surface, compared to what was requested by the neighborhood plan.

The façade on the road front is entirely glazed, exposing the living rooms to the outside giving the impression that the building has been cut or like section in a doll house. The clients specifically asked for a building without balconies, the most suited solution capable to give an impression of the exterior was to have sizable sliding windows offering the possibility to open large sections of the façade. In the courtyard, each room is indicated by a window perforated in a roughcast wall with exterior insulation. The internal organization of the flats has been developed as typological system, which puts the hall in the center of the plan, allowing it to distribute all the rooms. The volume of the attic is designed as an object on a pedestal, its aluminum materialization tends to blend in with the sky.

Structural work elements

The structural system was sized not only to ensure stability of the building – including all seismic measurements-, but also to ensure a greater sound insulation between apartments but also between the apartments and the common areas. Therefore all bearing walls and slabs generally have a greater thickness than needed for regular stability requirements of the buildings.

All thermal insulation in the facades and roof has been sized to meet the MINERGIE label values, with a clear aim to reduce energy consumption and lower costs for consumers.

All windows in the courtyard were designed as «breathable» windows, meaning: coated aluminum frames with thermal breaks, last generation double glazing, with an additional third glass placed on the exterior in order to provide a ventilated space with a motorized window shade.

Heating and ventilation

The production of the heating and hot water is produced by a heat pumps supplied by geothermal boreholes. The apartment heating is a low temperature floor heating. The coils embedded in the concrete subflooring are fed by a dispenser located in the lobby, which modulates the temperature in each room based on their exposure or their size. In summer, the same network of coils can be supplied with cold water for cooling of the premises.

The ventilation is a type of «double flow system», fresh air (filtered, dusted, moisturized if necessary, heated) is prepared in the central and then fed into each room through a system in the ceiling located above the sanitary and hall. Meanwhile stale air, taken through the sanitary, is returned to central, where its heat is recovered by a heat exchanger, before being discharged.

This way, the air quality inside the housing is guaranteed at any time, without obligation to open the windows, and energy loss by ventilation is minimized.

CoralHouse Housing estate Area “Chandieu”, Petit-Saconnex 70-70D, Rue du Grand-Pré 1202 Geneva lot 5028 City of Geneva

Programme — Net Area
Housing: 8’450sqm
Commercial premises: 1’930sqm
Basement: 1’029sqm
Total of 58 housing units Commercial premises on the ground and first floors Energy standard Minergie®
Client: A&A Real Estate Grand-Pré SA

Consultants
Project management: PBM Planungs und Baumanagement AG
Civil Engineer: Walt+Galmarini AG, Perreten & Milleret
M&E Engineer: SB Technique
Sanitary Engineer: Mike Humbert ingénieur conseil
Electricity Engineer: MAB-Ingénierie SA
Building Engineering Physics: Basler & Hoffmann Holding AG

Statistical values
Net area: 11’492sqm
Built volume: 38’100m3

See also:

.

Cherokee by Pugh + Scarpa	Altis Belém Hotel by Risco	Step Up on Fifth by Pugh + Scarpa

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