The Cedar Park House by Peter Cohan

Via @Contemporist. The CedarPark responds directly to the predicament posed by the site – that its most desirable location is also its most fragile. It takes advantage of the prospect afforded by a steep site. Two concrete walls mark the site and define its major exterior and interior spaces. The first follows the long northern boundary, cupping at the end to form an outdoor hearth. The second parallels the first, until it bends in the middle and angles to the southeast. Together they form a Y that opens to the east. The walls become a datum against which the slope of the site is measured, growing to eleven feet tall at the entry portal. The steep slope is subject to erosion and landslides, particularly when it becomes saturated with water.

For this reason all of the water from the roofs is collected and conveyed uphill to the street. Two distinct roof shapes reflect different strategies for collecting the water. The western roof conveys rainwater far enough up site to allow it to drain naturally to the street. The solidity of the exterior stands in sharp contrast to the openness of the interior. The chevron-shaped living space is open to the terrace and lawn. The 7 1/2-foot wide doors to the terrace can be slid in either direction. The two arms of the house form the edges of a lawn that extends from the living room to the edge of the bluff overlooking Lake Washington.

Kowalewski Residence - Belmont Freeman Architects

Kowalewski Residence - Belmont Freeman Architects

Article @Archdaily. Atlantic Beach is an established beach community on Long Island, immediately outside of New York City. It is filled with modest houses from the 1920’s and 30’s in Tudor, Spanish and Art Deco styles. As real estate prices rose in the last decade, the village saw a lot of “tear-down” activity, as older houses were replaced by much larger homes. The Kowalewski residence is an attempt to insert a distinctly modern house into the village context in a manner that is respectful of the scale and architectural traditions of the community. The house does not maximize either the bulk or lot coverage allowed by zoning. It is oriented with the narrow face – only slightly wider than the former house on the lot – toward the street, with the traditional side driveway and rear garage. Siting the compact footprint at the north edge of the 85-foot-square lot preserves a wide side garden with mature trees. In form and materials the house recalls the village’s Art Deco heritage.

The 3600 SF house was designed as the primary residence for a family with two small children. For privacy, the street façade is nearly blank, while the principal rooms all open onto the garden to the south. The ground floor has an open plan for casual living and maximum connection to the outdoors. The second floor a hallway with continuous skylight leads to four bedrooms and three baths. A sun room / guest suite on the third floor opens onto a large roof terrace with panoramic views of the island and the ocean. The clients are collectors of contemporary art and the work of some of their artist friends – like the marble floor in the entry foyer – is incorporated into the architectural design.

The structure is steel, with light-gauge metal framed floors and walls and energy-efficient EIS envelope. Principal exterior materials are stucco, black slate, stainless steel and glass. The steel and wood stair floats in a tower glazed in shingled panels of frosted glass, like an over-scaled jalousie window.

Architects: Belmont Freeman Architects

Location: Atlantic Beach, New York, USA

Principal in Charge: Belmont Freeman

Project Architect: Devyn Osborne

Client: Antoni and Joanna Kowalewski

Construction Manager: Anko Contractor

Structural Engineer: Ross Dalland, PE

Site Area: 7,500 sft

Project Area: 3,600 sqf

Project Year: 2007

Photographs: Christopher Wesnofske

Richmond Place House / Boyd Cody Architects

Via @ArchDaily, The house is located in a conservation area close to Dublin’s city centre, on a small but prominent infill corner site at the junction between Mountpleasant Avenue and Richmond Place. The house is located in a conservation area close to Dublin’s city centre, on a small but prominent infill corner site at the junction between Mountpleasant Avenue and Richmond Place. A modest dwelling built to replace the existing cottage located on the site. The accommodation consists of 2no. bedrooms, 2no. bathrooms, kitchen, utility and living / dining area set over three separate levels. At two stories the house remains substantially in character with the nearby terrace of houses and forms a low book-end building to Richmond Place, while making a strong contextual response to both the unusual site configuration and the prevailing architectural context, in particular the gable end of the house immediately opposite on Mountpleasant Square. Approximately triangular in shape and with a pronounced curve along Richmond Place, the house adopts the site boundary line along its north and south elevations and aligns with the adjacent terrace to the east and west. The resultant form is carved twice to make two compressed entrance spaces one to the front and a smaller one at the rear. In order to maintain the low-lying nature of the block fronting to Richmond Place, the living room is sunk 750mm into the ground, following the natural fall across the site.

Pio Restaurant / Sebastian Marsical Studio

Via @archdaily the discovery of a finely crafted wooden box set into an existing building on 10th Ave. immediately defines the initial intentions of this design: mystery, discovery, and contradiction. The visitor enters this rustic wooden box and is removed from the noisy Manhattan streets. An exquisite marble host-table floats within the space enclosed in reclaimed wood. However, this is only a glimpse of what exists beyond. The limited view increases the tension and desire for exploration. In the following space, a sparkling brass vestibule glows within a second wooden box.

This stimulating entry leads to a 40-foot, monolithic marble bar resting on a distressed concrete floor. The bar also defines the long corridor towards another space at the end of the restaurant, set at the bottom of a flight of stairs. Here the lights dim and one finds oneself contained in a volume woven entirely in Ocotillo canes. A series of concrete forms simultaneously enclose this main dining hall and integrate it with the various res- taurant services. Once inside, the experience is no longer defined by the relationship of the restaurant with New York City; here the magic belongs to a fantastical experience that is characteristic of Latin America.

Altis Belem Hotel by Risco Architects

Via @Contemporist, Altis Belém Hotel by RISCO Architects

The Bom Sucesso Hotel is situated in Belém, on the waterfront to the east of the Bom Sucesso Dock and opposite the Belém Cultural Centre. It is a 5-star hotel with 50 rooms and a number of facilities intended to support water sports.

The main structure, which has two floors, lies perpendicular to the Tagus in such a way as to make best use of the views across the city and the estuary. It is also designed not to constitute a visual obstacle along the axis between the Belém Tower and the Monument to the Discoveries. The hotel is also composed of a rectangular platform, which incorporates the restaurant and creates a “pocket” designed to increase guest privacy. There is an open green space above the platform. A very narrow structure, which sits between the hotel and the restaurant and connects them, possesses a strong identity of its own that is related to the look of the nearby Museum of Popular Art.

BIT Bogstadveien - Scenario

BIT Bogstadveien - Scenario

BIT-chain has been well known for a long time in Oslo for their delicious sandwiches and calzone, as well as for a cool industrial open kitchen interior design that the owner did himself.

But during the past year, BIT decided that they want a new identity that would be more friendly and welcoming. Together with an advertisement company Dinamo we developed a modern version of the classic European bistro. We had a focus on English and French bistros and tried to make a new fusion version for Oslo’s inhabitants- Norwegian bistro. All items of graphical profiling, furniture and details are built under this concept.

Before BIT moved to Bogstadveien, a bookstore Norli had a cafe place at the same location. The existing ceiling and lighting were kept, but the lighting concept was upgraded with the ass lamps of British designer Tom Dixon. To create a homelike atmosphere, we designed two large couches – one with a high back so that people can sit for a long time, and another one without back – for people just waiting for the food they have ordered. This sofas were made by the local producer Buskerud Trevare AS.

To emphasize British influence we chose the textiles of the British designer Paul Smith for sofas. The employees, who work at BIT,are an important part of the new visual concept and for them we oredered the aprons of the same fabric as the sofas.

Paul Smith was a great inspiration for the interior, therefore colors that have been chosen for interior – red, dark gray, light green, black are selected by studying his fabrics.

In the kitchen we are using classic French bistro tiles, while the walls in the customer area is covered with photo wallpapers with a painting of a hunting picture.The original of the picture “Ruffnecked Grouse” ( Oil on canvas, size: 24×36 inches, 1971 ) by Peter Darro was bought by the BIT owner at RoGalleery NYC/ 2009. This painting is used for the packaging design as well.

Architects: AS Scenario Interiørarkitekter MNIL

Location: Bogstadveien 48, Oslo, Norway

Project Responsible: Linda Steen, Interior Architect MNIL

Project Lead Designer: Vesma Kontere McQuillan, Dipl. Architect/ Interior Architect MA

Project Assistant Designer: Nichlas Hoel, Interior Architect

Collaboration Partners: Dinamo AS, graphic designer Axel Hartvig-Larsen

Building company: Jos Eiendom AS

Customer: BIT Norge As

Project Area: 150 sqm

Project Year: 2009

Photographs: Gatis Rozenfelds, F64 SIA( Latvia)

House in Pozuelo de Alarcon by A-Cero Architects

Article @Contemporist. A-cero Architects designed the house in Pozuelo de Alarcón, in Madrid, Spain.

House in Pozuelo de Alarcón by A-cero Architects

The house is hided behind a harmonious sculptural set of curved walls made of stone dark granite and marble travertino that seem to emerge from a big water plate arranged in the house entry.

In addition to the beauty of this structure, it offers a high grade of privacy and tact between the exterior (street) and the house. Other more, this structure goes to the back part, as a front, where is a natural, clear and kind scenery.

This block disposition and the house plot (a descending slope towards a lake) are used to distribute the house in two plants: a high floor, with exterior access, and a low floor. Both of them are looking to a wide terrace with a pergola and to the garden house.

In the high plant, we find a very wide and luminous hall provided with natural light for top skylights, and with two plates of waters dominated by two bronze lions. In addition it is used to lead to the kitchen, wine vault, dining room, lounge, office – library, and to the most private area: the principal bedroom, dressing-room, bath, interior swimming pool and small gymnasium. Also we find the stairs that descend to the low floor where there are a games lounge and a movies room, kids and guests bedrooms and the service area with two bedrooms in suite and with a wide area for the housework. All the house rooms are provided with wide large windows in a dark safety glass. These windows (that also works as doors) and a lot of house elements are completely computerized and motorized: lighting, safety, blinds, air conditioning … everything is centralized.

The high floor communicates with a terrace. In the lounge the access to outside is made by a long large window that provides a continuity sensation from the interior space to outside.

This terrace is covered by a pergola made of an aluminium structure that supports the sculptural premeditation of the building. In one of the side parts of the garden, there is a relaxation area with a pond of Buddhist inspiration.

Photographer: Ferran Silva (A-cero)