Casa Ojalá allows you to live your imaginations, immersed in the landscape that surrounds you
Inspired by recent travels in the vast and endless countryside of the northern Andes, Architect Beatrice Bonzanigo sought to create a refuge where one – she! – could comfortably stay a few days without disrupting the physical and existential immersion in the landscape. Thus Casa Ojalá was born: pairing the luxurious comforts of home with a structure that adapts seamlessly to its surroundings, allowing guests to rediscover themselves submerged in nature.
Equipped with self-contained electrical and water systems, the shelter is off-grid capable allowing for installation in remote mountaintops or isolated beaches.
From design to reality
After its heralded debut at Milan Design Week in 2019, Beatrice formed Casa Ojalá srl with Ryan Nesbitt to develop the initial design into full-scale production and make it available to individuals and boutique hotels alike. Prototyping is underway and first deliveries are expected late 2020.
Made in Italy
Italy is renowned worldwide for its design, raw materials and superb craftsmanship and Casa Ojalá raises the bar yet again.
Named after the seasonal strong, north-westerly wind that blows across the Mediterranean, Mistral is less like a cabin cruiser and more like a sleek cruise ship. Painted in a slightly different white to Vento, but also with a metallic tinge, Mistral has a powerful solidity to it. Like Vento, its structural elements are expressed both externally and internally, simultaneously referencing a boat and communicating the sense of a strong forward thrust.
It exploits the angularity of outward-leaning structural elements and similarly angled glazed walls to fashion an almost vertiginous experience both inside and outside of a powerful vessel driving through the sea.
As with Vento, the street elevation of Mistral combines timber and concrete in a façade penetrated by windows of varying scale to generate a strong rhythmic quality. This is complemented by the forward-thrusting angularity of the building, which leads the eye towards the water which is only barely glimpsed at this stage.
Again like Vento there is a carefully orchestrated sequence of arrival designed to heighten expectation and ensure maximum drama with the final reveal of the view. Floating concrete slabs form a footbridge linking the porte cochère across a pond with the entry vestibule. Here a sculpted travertine wall (screening the stairwell) drives the circulation to either side, delaying the final dramatic tableau.
Mistral is over four levels, including a large entertainment room in the basement. Dining, dry kitchen and living are on the entry level, while level two consist of bedrooms and a roof terrace overlooking the canal. The bedrooms on level two, including the master bedroom, are to the side with one at the rear (streetside) with views back to the ocean.
With Mistral ─ as with Vento ─ the structure is the form. There is total integration, just as the project as a whole is assimilated with MDL’s building design, interior architecture, decoration, furnishings and art works. “The only thing we haven’t done,” says Massimo, “are the plates and dishes.” It is an example of what he calls a complete solution ─ complete also for the way it accommodates the client’s preoccupation with ” feng shui, harmonizing wind and water. The two houses also exemplify the way MDL pushes the envelope formally and structurally. They invariably present a challenge to the contractors both structurally and in terms of detailing ─ for example, making and installing windows which fully integrate into the curved facades.
But they also represent an aesthetic challenge. These are unique, if not idiosyncratic forms. Given Massimo’s love of ‘symbology’, it is not surprising that houses like Vento and Mistral have a story to tell, which begins on the outside where their forms and their landscaping blend to generate an integrated whole which then extends to the interiors, where the interior architecture, the materials and the planning ─ not to mention the customized artworks and other decorative elements ─ all work together to generate narratives unique to each building.
ME Dubai hotel at Opus Home to the new ME Dubai hotel, the Opus is located in the Burj Khalifa district adjacent to Downtown Dubai and Business Bay on the Dubai Water Canal. Exploring the balance between solid and void, opaque and transparent, interior and exterior, the design was presented by Zaha Hadid in 2007 and is the only hotel in which she created both its architecture and interiors.
Spanning 84,300 square metres (907,400 square feet), the Opus was designed as two separate towers that coalesce into a singular whole—taking the form of a cube. The cube has been ‘eroded’ in its centre, creating a free-form void that is an important volume of the design in its own right. The two halves of the building on either side of the void are linked by a four-storey atrium at ground level and also connected by an asymmetric 38 metre wide, three-storey bridge 71 metres above the ground.
“The precise orthogonal geometries of the Opus’ elemental glass cube contrast dramatically with the fluidity of the eight-storey void at its centre,” explained Christos Passas, project director at Zaha Hadid Architects.
The cube’s double-glazed insulating façades incorporate a UV coating and a mirrored frit pattern to reduce solar gain. Applied around the entire building, this dotted frit patterning emphasizes the clarity of the building’s orthogonal form, while at the same time, dissolving its volume through the continuous play of light varying between ever-changing reflections and transparency.
The void’s 6,000 square metre façade is created from 4,300 individual units of flat, single-curved or double-curved glass. The high-efficiency glazing units are comprised of 8mm Low-E glass (coated on the inside), a 16mm cavity between the panes and 2 layers of 6mm clear glass with a 1.52mm PVB resin laminate. This curved façade was designed using digital 3D modelling that also identified specific zones which required tempered glass.
During the day, the cube’s façade reflects the sky, the sun and the surrounding city; whilst at night, the void is illuminated by a dynamic light installation of individually controllable LEDs within each glass panel.
Furniture by Zaha Hadid Design is installed throughout the hotel, including the ‘Petalinas’ sofas and ‘Ottomans’ pods in the lobby that are fabricated from materials ensuring a long lifecycle and its components can be recycled. The ‘Opus’ beds in each bedroom while the ‘Work & Play’ combination sofa with desk are installed in the suites. The hotel’s bedrooms also incorporate the ‘Vitae’ bathroom collection, designed by Hadid in 2015 for Noken Porcelanosa, continuing her fluid architectural language throughout the hotel’s interiors.
Sensors throughout the Opus automatically adjust the ventilation and lighting according to occupancy to conserve energy while ME Dubai follows Meliá Hotels International initiatives for sustainable practices. Hotel guests will receive stainless-steel water bottles to use during their stay with drinking water dispensers installed throughout the hotel. With no plastic bottles in guest rooms and a program to become entirely plastic free in all areas, the hotel is also reducing food waste by not serving buffets and has composters to recycle discarded organics.
Cyprus is called “the island of Aphrodite”, the sun shines there almost all year round, its clear and warm sea invites you to swim, there is no shortage of ancient treasures and life is pleasant. These hedonistic charms naturally guided our thinking.
Limassol Tower project is terrestrial with a system of corollas that provide housing pools and planted spaces. The corollas are independent spaces of the accommodation, which are simultaneously in direct connection with the interiors of the apartments, creating a unique and luxury interior living experience for the inhabitant. The corolla system is also on the ground floor: the sunshades and the circles in the landscape that accompany the topography connect the dwellings and the outdoor spaces, creating coherence throughout the building.
The transparency of the volume ensures unobstructed sea views. The experience of living outside is also done inside the accommodation thanks to the sliding system: by opening its windows, you are on your balcony. The total transparency of the project ensures a constant sea view.
On the ground floor, a majestic entrance opens the door to a unique experience. Limassol Tower offers a variety of well-being services: a gym in the basement, an art gallery on the ground floor and a luxury spa on the first floor, all with independent access. Well-being and luxury combine to create an exclusive experience.
Inspired by the beauty of free-flowing curves, Seaview House is a fusion of sculpture and building, a blending of form and function to create living spaces that inspire. It embraces traditional concepts of tropical architecture while reinterpreting them in contemporary forms. It explores what a house could be like for an avid collector of antiques and ultra modern furniture, a house that displays and becomes a display itself. The house strives to strike a delicate balance between the traditional masculinity of dramatic grand spaces and the sensuous, fluid nature of free flowing curves.
The columns became a curvaceous stiletto, supporting the entry porches, illuminated dramatically by night. Glass is used generously for the facade and balustrades to create a sense of lightness. Even though some spaces are deep, none feel dark or claustrophobic. Double-height glass in the living room allows the living spaces, with all its furniture and antiques to be on “display” to the public, even the curvaceous spiral stairs is visibly positioned in front of the house and fronted with curtain wall glazing. Double-height sliding doors open fully at the living hall for the hot air to escape while large fans ventilate the hall.
The client’s goal was to maximize the site with as much internal floor areas as possible, and with each room being as large as it possibly can.
The total built in area is 9300 sq.ft., which is remarkable for a plot of this size. All the rooms are pushed to the edge of the allowable setbacks. The sculpted roofs and floor slabs work within the allowable eave setbacks, while the internal spaces and balconies are pushed to the maximum building setback. The combination maximizes space while creating a “playful” facade.
The extensive use of glass in a home is the client’s requirement, and while seemingly counter-intuitive in the tropics, it actually worked to create comfortable and beautiful spaces when combined with passive design strategies, which are adopted from traditional tropical architecture. The use of low-emissive glass also helps to minimize the thermal impact.
This design challenges the notion that homes need to be rigidly shaped for efficiency, by exploring how a sculptural building can be efficient, logical, tropical, practical and liveable at the same time. While highly sculptural in form, the building also addresses the occupants’ needs for shelter and shade, light and ventilation – creating comfortable spaces even without mechanical cooling. The use of sensual curves is unusual for houses that are commonly defined by its setback boundaries and by the desire for maximum efficiency.
MAD Architects has released new images of its “vanishing stadium” for Quzhou Sports Campus which is under construction in Quzhou, in China’s Zhejiang province.
The park includes a 30,000-person capacity stadium, a 10,000-person capacity gymnasium, a natatorium, outdoor auxiliary training grounds, athlete service and experience center, as well as a science and technology museum and children’s place.
Upon its entire completion, Quzhou Sports Campus will become the world’s largest earth shelter building complex
The sports venues and expansive park have been imagined as a cohesive scene where the winding trails compliment the sloping land and there are multiple platforms integrated for people to enjoy the park’s beauty from different perspectives.
007: a crazy dream and preoccupations of anticipation
At the origins of this incredible project, there is the dream of Jean-Michel Ducancelle, naval architect, inspired by the James Bond ® floating capsule in The Spy Who Loved Me.
Jean-Michel has been wondering for 25 years about how Man can inhabit the Earth. He cultivates with passion the idea that the habitat of tomorrow must be at the heart of the natural environment to offer everyone a life in immersion with the marine and underwater world. He is considering a way to approach the future differently, with a solution for the increasingly limited availability of construction on the coast and a new look at floating habitat.
The decisive meeting with Jacques-Antoine Cesbron , a visionary industrialist , allowed the culmination of many years of research and patented innovations .
With the construction of Anthénea, the dream is now a reality…
Anthénea and ecology
Anthénea embodies a new form of tourism but also of habitat in the face of multiple environmental challenges: rising waters, the effects of climate change, over-density of the coast and places saturated with tourism.
Comfortable and unsinkable
Anthénea resists climatic cataclysms and the rise of the oceans . Its spherical shape is based on the principle of “surface tension”, observed in nature. It is the optimal form of resistance to extreme conditions of life on water.
The peripheral crown allows by its shape and its lift technology, a considerable increase in the stability of shape and lift on water .
100% electric
Anthénea only consumes solar energy. An energy sensor dome meets the needs for electricity and hot water. The house is equipped with an approved black water station and a gray water station. Anthénea produces what it consumes and releases only clean water.
Air conditioning occurs naturally through the central well.
Australian architect Marshall Blecher and Danish architecture practice Studio Fokstrot have unveiled design for a new type of urban space for the harbour of Copenhagen, Denmark.
With Copenhagen Islands a new type of urban space is introduced to the harbour of Copenhagen. A ‘parkipelago’ of floating islands, creates endless possibilities for fun activities and daily exploration. The islands will be dispatched on suitable locations around the inner harbour, but also find their way to more forgotten and underused corners of the harbour, catalyzing life and activity. Hopefully giving back a little bit of space for whimsy and wonder to the old industrial harbour sides.
All of them will be free to be explored by the increasing number of kayaks, sailors, GoBoaters, tourists and fishermen in the harbour.
The intention is to renew the proud traditions of the Danish harbour life, by strengthening the social cohesion and awareness of the maritime life in, and around the harbour.
The activities and functions of each island are flexible, depending on its position in the harbour and the time of the year. The users of the islands are dictating the actual use of the island, and what functions to have.
The project, as a concept, is launched to create a stronger focus on an improved harbour environment, the global climate changes and the increased water levels – some of the biggest problems the world is facing today.
MASK Architects – Seoul Art and Photographic Museum
THE BIGGEST CAMERA ON PLANET EARTH IS IN SEOUL!
Isn’t
the purpose of a Photography Museum to celebrate Photography? So why not create
the biggest camera on planet Earth and celebrate the art of photography and the
city of Seoul with an installation of a rooftop ‘Camera Obscura’ that marries
past, present, and future into an experience that visitors will never forget.
Photography makes our memories valuable, fixing them for a moment, while life
keeps rolling rapidly in time. From digital to analogical, from microscopic
pictures to satellite images, Photography has been freezing those fleeting
moments. And, before all that, there was what we can call the grandmother of
Photography, the ‘Camera Obscura.’
Seoul
Photographic Art Museum is located on the cultural and art facilities of
Dobong-gu in the Northeastern part of the city, and the ‘camera Obscura’ has
the mission of documenting and providing a better understanding of Seoul’s
history and the way it has managed to balance innovation and tradition. The
‘Camera Obscura’ rooftop installation is an ideal way to showcase the
developing skyline of Seoul’s city view at the exhibition rooms and showcase
the sky view at the top of the exhibition area in the building.
WHAT IS
A CAMERA OBSCURA?
Camera
obscura (from Latin, meaning “darkened room”) is a device that varies in size
and can take the shape of a box or a whole room. A hole has been pierced on one
of the sides or walls, which lets the light into the box or room, projecting
the image on the other opposite wall or side. The device has been used in the
past in science fairs and even as a circus attraction, which makes it favourite
for any kind of public. There are more complex camera obscuras that use mirrors
to project image upwards and right-side-up, and they can also have lenses
sometimes.
HOW DOES
THE CAMERA OBSCURA WORK ?
A
Law of Optics that the ancients had already discovered serves as the base for
the Camera Obscura mechanism. Namely, light travels in a straight line, but
when some of the rays pass through a small hole pierced on thin material,
instead of scattering, the rays cross the hole and reshape on the opposite wall
(any flat surface held parallel to the hole) as an upside-down image. This
peculiar phenomenon was described already the manuscripts of Leonardo da Vinci
in the 15th century and by the mid-sixteenth century, lenses had begun to be
used to increase the brightness and sharpness of the image.
HOW
DOES THE ‘CAMERA OBSCURA’ WORK INSIDE THE MUSEUM
One
of the systems comprised of two lenses and a large periscope mirror was
installed on the very top of the building. Its closable and openable system.
when Its area needs a dark area, the pinhole will be closed to provide a dark
atmosphere for exhibition. On event, the pinhole will be open to show visitors
how it could be to realize a real camera. This system provides a great event
and experience for users.
WHAT IS
THE PURPOSE OF THE CAMERA OBSCURA IN OUR BUILDING
The
main purpose of the project is to use the structure and shape of the building
itself as a big camera. The camera obscura idea on the top of the building will
project the wide sky that could be seen from the roof. It can also be used on
the west and east surfaces of the building, which would allow the Camera to
show Seoul’s urban landscape across the gallery space.
ABOUT
THE FORM CONCEPT
“Photographic
Art Museum Design‘’ sets itself in contrast to the block-like structures that
surround it in Seoul, Korea. Museum Design’s fluid architecture embodies an
enlightened philosophical framework. The centre’s fluid exterior surfaces rise
from its surroundings to define a series of exhibition, education, and research
spaces within, inviting the urban fabric of the city into the heart of
building.
In
total 6,658.92 gross square meter on the museum’s four floors where you can enjoy
in real lifetime the photo experience and exhibitions of classic examples of
‘Camera Obscura.’ The exhibition part will be comprised of optical illusions,
puzzles, etc., providing guests with dizzying alternate realities and tricks
for the mind and the senses. Gamification will be a key element of these
exhibitions. Visitors are encouraged to get involved with everything, play with
it all, and unlike a lot of learning centers, there is nothing in this one you
are not allowed to touch. Its interior will be distributed over the 3rd and 4th
floors that hosts a wide variety of artworks of over 1,435 square meters of
exhibition. It s particular external form does not allow the entry of the
light. However, some of the exterior facade panels would be made openable,
closable, and adjustable for the times in which there will be need of daylight
in that area.
The use of containers as a building material
has grown in popularity over the past several years due to their inherent
strength, wide availability, and relatively low expense. Homes have also been
built with containers because they are seenas more
eco-friendly than traditional building materials such as brick and cement.(Wilkipedia)
Eco-Conscious Shipping Container Homes, Designed By Zigloo.ca In Victoria, British Columbia
ASHDOD PORT SHIPPING CONTAINER OFFICE
Architect: Potash Architects – Tel Aviv
JOSHUA TREE CONTAINER HOUSE
Architect: James Whitaker – London
THE CATERPILLAR HOUSE
Architect: Sebastián Irarrázaval – Santiago
RANDY BEN’S CONTAINER OFFICE
Architect: Randy Bens – Vancouver
Coossbox House by CG Architects, France
GRILLAGH WATER HOUSE – Patrick Bradley Architects, Ireland
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