Category: Architecture

French architect and designer residing in Tokyo, Emmanuelle Moureaux, replaces the traditional bank design with a new concept inspired by Japanese traditional sliding screens using colors as three-dimensional elements in order to create spaces. Judging by the joyful exterior appearance of this wonderful piece of architecture one would never think that this building will host a bank. But yes, surprisingly the building in Tokyo host a credit union -Sugamo Shinkin Bank- whose motto is: “we take pleasure in serving happy customers”

Bright colors, light infusion, modern design are the main elements Emmanuelle Moureaux‘s project relies on. Visitors are welcomed with a fresh and clean exterior and interior design which reflects the architect unique technique of colour scheming and handling colors as space makers. She uses colors to create spaces, not as a finishing touch applied on surfaces. The eye-catching exterior facade displays a rainbow of twelve saturated colors which reflected onto the white surface give a gentle, refreshing feeling. During the night, the beautiful colors stand out even more because they are illuminated.

The bank interior spaces offers other pleasant surprises visually speaking, where the main attraction is the game of light and color. The arrangement of the bank design features decorative elements that connect all areas of the bank in a single continuous space maximizing natural light throughout the day. The dandelion puff motifs that float on the ceiling and the 14 different colors of chairscreates a playful atmosphere inside Sugamo Shinkin Bank. The second floor hosts storey houses offices, meeting rooms and a cafeteria, while the third floor is reserved for the staff changing rooms. Here you have some photos to enjoy!

Photos: Nacasa & Partners.

Starting with 2012, Fraunhofer Institute from Stuttgart has a new Centre for Virtual Engineering envisioned by Dutch architectural design studio UNStudio (United Network Studio) founded in 1988 by Ben van Berkel and Caroline Bos and specialized in architecture, urban development and infrastructural project. The Centre is located on the research campus of the Fraunhofer Institute and its specialisation is to investigate different multidisciplinary work flows.

UNStudio worked with Asplan from Kaiserslautern on the architectural services for the Centre, the development of the construction documents and the site supervision being Asplan’s responsabilities for this project. The Centre for Virtual Engineering is showcasing a new type of building which incorporates a contemporary architectural vision that understands better the new working environments and stimulates new ways of working in the future.

Thus, the primary focus of this extremely functional and aesthetically attractive design concept is on communication which leads to new creative ways of working at all levels by changing the traditional separation of departments into open and flexible work spaces with extensive visual connections and shared work stations based only on the needs of the employees.

Reflecting the highly innovative nature of the operations it conducts, the architectural features of the building emphasize simplicity, creativity and sustainability above all. It is ingeniously created so that the public exhibition and scenographic routing of the visitors are combined with the laboratory and research functions.

The geometry of the floor plan and geometry of the facade maintain the impression of a permanently transforming surface. The building ensures an extraordinary sustainability level through energy saving installations, recyclable materials and overall low-maintenance requirements, for which it was awarded a Gold certification by the German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB).

Photos: © UNStudio.

Project details:

Client: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung e.V.
Location: Fraunhofer Campus, Nobelstrasse 12, 70569 Stuttgart
Building surface: GFA 5.782 m2
Building volume: 27.221 m3
Programme: Offices and laboratories
Status: Realised

Designed by McLean Quinlan Architects with a design strategy for the construction of new villa was to create a building that could exploit the spectacular landscape, while creating a building for the 21st century copy.
The site occupies a panoramic sweep southwest of earthworks, with breathtaking views of the Mediterranean, the Rock of Gibraltar and Ronda Serranos.

The building has seven bedrooms and apartments for families and their guests in three separate pavilions linked by water pools, gardens and stone terraces.
The concept caught a spatial altitude with a distinct taste, with a beautiful combination of visual influences, solar, this area has created a natural orientation for the building-as a series of surfaces parallel to the axis of NE / SW.These spaces enjoying the shade but also the  Andalusian sunshine, Offering a soothing atmosphere for its inhabitants.The shadow in the water in an Islamic garden was very practical and metaphorical use when they built this building, help regulate the micro-climate immediately pointing to the historical context.

The Loftcube is a vision of how we’ll live in the future. The cube is designed to flat surfaces including the roofs of skyscrapers, a high-techness for modern nomads that looks more like a UFO than a home. Werner Aisslinger designed it in 2003 and the loftcube’ design isn’t accidental, he wanted to look as if it has just landed. It’s got four legs which raises from the surface it rests on, having something transitory about it: it might take off again or be taken somewhere else by helicopter.

Basically, it’s a temporary visitor. The Loftcube project is a minimal architecture, it’s a transportable house for nomadic people with many functional units for daily life like: living room area, bedroom, kitchen and bathroom, which can move with its owner from city to city, water and electicity connections run through its feet. The outside wall is made of a kind of fiberglass reinforced plastic used for yachts. The organic quality, the organic shape is intentional designed so.

The interior is quite cozy, featuring a very light, transparent, airy space with lots of glass all around windows so the owner can look out at the surrounding landscape. The entire living space takes ups just 39 square meters, but the many translucent and transparent surfaces made of white corian make it seem bigger. Aisslinger designed every details himself. It’s meant to be a home young professional on the move can take with them just as a snail carries its shell. This non-permanent architecture is incredible impressive, something you’ve never experienced before, at least from what we see in the pictures. Used for working, living, and relaxing, the Loftcube embodies the Werner Aisslinger’s quintessence: “Feel at home – even when you are a long way from home”.

Photos: © Steffen Jaenicke.

It’s not a UFO, it’s the Apple’s gigantic new headquarters. “Campus 2”, as it is known, will be the Apple’s new home in the near future-2015. The company has recently published new details and spectacular images with their amazing project to be built in Cupertino, California. The impressive building which resembling a UFO planted in a serene forest, can be described as the coolest office building ever seen in the City of Cupertino. Apple Campus 2′ plans which has fascinated everyone, was unveiled by Steve Jobs in his last public appearance.

To create the new spaceship-like headquarters for Apple, the development proposal will replace the existing office and research buildings and will ocupy a campus formerly owned by Hewlett-Packard. According to the plans, the structure itself will have a circumference roughly the size of the U.S. Pentagon, the world’s largest office building. Although the company that produces the best-designed consumer products of our time hasn’t officialy released the design, it seems that the architect of this outstanding structure is the London-based firm Foster +Partners, known for its super-sleek, elegant, exquisitely detailed buildings.

Sleek and impeccably detailed, the absolutely huge glass-and-metal ring will be four stories high, with a hole in the middle a third of a mile wide. In fact, it’s so huge that we are able to perceive its shape only from the air. It will be built on a 175 acre area near the 280 highway. It’s useless to say that the Apple 2 will be an eco-friendly and energy-efficient campus, encouraging a culture of innovation and productivity for Apple’s employee. Rendered images show solar panels covering the roof of the building. Apple says that it will provide most of its own power and will require very little from the grid. Take a closer look at Apple’s new home from these amazing new renderings below.

“Apple Campus 2” will have space for:

• An office, research and development building comprising approximately 2.8 million square feet
• Approximately 13,000 employee
• A 1,000 seat corporate auditorium (perfect for all Apple’s biggest events)
• A two-story corporate fitness center
• A 58,000 square foot dining area
• A central plant
• Research facilities comprising approximately 300,000 square feet located on the east side of Tantau Avenue; and
• Associated Parking.