Banyoles’ old town used to be a deteriorated area in which vehicles and pedestrians cohabitated around a urban system of narrow streets and old sidewalks. The irrigation canals that originally were clean had become part of the sewer system of the city. Around the Central Square there were also sidewalks in which cars parked randomly.

The process was to pedestrianize the whole area, removing all the old sidewalks. The new intervention is made with travertine stone. This calcareous stone has always been present in the city’s subsoil. All the enigmatic buildings, churches, medieval houses or monuments were also raised with travertine.

The departing point is to cover the Central Square (the most relevant part of the project) using a tessellation of travertine. The proliferation of this tiling arrives to the streets and minor squares in different phases of the project.

On the other hand, the irrigation system is uncovered intermittently across the pedestrian ways. Eventually, it is opened in bigger sections so children can play as if they were in front of a puddle of water.

La entrada Banyoles old town refurbishment se publicó primero en Global Spaces.

Acquired in 2004 in a state of ruin, over stages the old Barberí foundry has gradually become RCR Arquitectes’ studio. The past of this factory building, constructed at the beginning of the twentieth century, is evident everywhere and establishes a very close relationship with new interventions.

The connection between tradition and innovation, together with other core concepts of the RCR philosophy like relating to the outdoors and reflecting the passage of time, has given rise to an ensemble that combines different spaces and uses.

The renovation work, which has been under way since 2006, consolidated the former complex and reorganised the existing industrial buildings, transforming them into a laboratory that meets their studio’s various needs.

Text provided by the architect.

La entrada Espai Barberí se publicó primero en Global Spaces.

The property is situated in the town Älta, a few kilometres south of Stockholm. The house is located on a hilly site with relatively limited building rights. It’s located along the town’s main street, surrounded by a motley crowd of buildings from the 60’s till today. The site has the shape of a triangle, where the building is placed on the south – west, upper part. The volume of the house is a result of the topographical conditions of the site, its building restrictions and the ambition to create a functional layout on a small area. From an economic aspect, it was important to minimize the foundation costs and therefor place the house on the only flat part of the property. The house has an area of 160 square meters , divided on two floors and a building height of 6 metres. The angles and the wedge-shape of the building contribute to an open but still functional floor plan, this despite the narrow house width of just 4.6 meters. The entrance floor consists mainly of a kitchen and a living room where the narrower center part of the building acts as a room divider. The upper floor consists of three bedrooms, a bathroom and a small library centrally located with a visual contact to the ground floor. The idea of consistency has permeated the project, where we wanted to simplicity of the sketch to shape the final outcome, both in terms of detailing and the building as a whole. The materials are simple and the detailing is reduced to purpose it’s function.

Text provided by the architect.

La entrada Villa Älta se publicó primero en Global Spaces.

The holiday home is located at an altitude of 1042 meters in Maria Alm. The narrow development specifications that apply to the location, property and design, such as building windows, gable roofs, storeys and eaves heights, are creatively interpreted. The house appears to be well integrated into the surroundings, topography and scale without appearing homely.

The floor plan and section reflect the client’s unconventional wishes in the sequence of low and high rooms, small and wide volumes. Following the topography, you access the house at a medium level and go up to the panoramic level or down to the spatially complex levels. The rooms focus on hillside locations and views, protection and space. Open fireplaces locate the focal points of commonality.

La entrada Holiday House se publicó primero en Global Spaces.

Junya Ishigami says about his interest in architecture: “A quality of nature is that it is governed by certain rules which at the same time we’re never really aware of… I am interested in creating something that would merge into this normally that surrounds us.”

The KAIT Workshop at Kanagawa Institute of Technology, a private university near Tokyo is the first project in which Ishigami succeeds in expanding the idea of blurring spaces. This project has become an ambiguous space, which no longer has any visible identifiable boundaries.

“I was beginning to think there could be a flexibility that results when the plans or other different factors remain in effect, from simply softening and blurring their boundaries. Through this thinking my interest shifted. I became interested in finding a way to design space somehow free of geometry or any rules. I imagined this could lead to a new universality in space.” – Junya Ishigami

Text description provided by the architects.

La entrada KAIT Workshop se publicó primero en Global Spaces.