Plastic House # Coolboom

Plastic House

Architecture Republic designed the interior of this unique house inserting a cruciform object made of polycarbonate and steel.
Here is the project description:
The project begins with removal, of the existing extension, internal walls and earth, bringing the entire house to lower ground-floor level. This opens the volume of the house as a double-height vessel, full of light.
A cruciform object is inserted; a piece of architectural furniture which spreads tree-like from a concentrated base. Services such as kitchen, toilet, storage and stairwell are housed within this trunk, providing for living and dining in the spaces around it.
Above this, is a platform for sleeping, dressing and study spaces. The four branches of the structure hold various functions, two which span to the side walls act as wardrobes while that to the front is a cantilevered reading desk for the teacher-client. The fourth branch extends through the rear wall and projects two meters beyond it housing a shower room, which is glazed to the sky.
The insertion is constructed with polycarbonate and steel. This lightweight structure is also the primary source of light in the evening, inset fittings cause its translucent surfaces to illuminate the spaces, which it generates above, below and between the object and its container.
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Minimalist House # Coolboom

Minimalist House

Shinichi Ogawa & Associates designed a minimalist court house for a couple in Itoman-shi, Okinawa, Japan.
The house is composed of four vertical plates as exterior walls and one horizontal plate as a roof slab. A functional layout is created by inserting a void of 3×18 meters, which is the court for the house, and a wall-like furniture into the concrete structure space.
The space composition is characterized by the division of the house into two areas by the wall-like furniture. The first area is composed of the living room, dining room and bedroom, while the other space is composed of the kitchen, powder room and study room.
The shower room, toilet and various storages are laid out in this wall-like unit, which also incorporates the services.
Minimalist-House2

Queen Shoes # Coolboom

Queen Shoes

Studio Guilherme Torres designed a pure white shoe store located in the city of Londrina in Brazil.
Here is the project description:
Pure white. White paint is the new kind of colour closely linked with the futuristic world. This is a completely personalized project jumping back to the architect’s youth references, from the Star Wars imperial soldiers wearing unblemished white, from Superman’s Fortress of Solitude – a crystal castle in the heart of the North Pole – to the masterpiece of 2001: A Space Odyssey, an iconic reference. These references were intentionally mixed up to create the concept of this shoe shop in Londrina, Brazil.
The shop’s outer-space expressiveness results from a geometric movement which stems from eighteen 42 cm wide white segments which compose the walls and ceiling. The shop facade is the first segment and it introduces itself as a solid structure sculpted in order to create the entrances. The following segments obey the same movement pattern, each one of them sculpted to build the shop interior.
The cashier’s counter follows the segment patterns and comes to life as a detached sculpture right in the centre of the shop. Behind the counter, a panel hides a staircase which leads to a small storage room and a mezzanine. The uneven batten floor warms the visual of the shop atmosphere highlighting the geometry of the segments. The ceiling is about 2,40 m to 3 m high inside the shop due to the segments visual aspect in the ceiling.

Constructive system and sustainability.

The client asked us to observe the shopping centre policy which states that the shops have to be renovated every five years. Therefore, we chose to use wallboards, which is a light and resistant material and facilitates future architecture changes. The wallboard thermo-acoustics coupled with the volume in the ceiling and the walls resulted in a functional acoustics environment.
The lighting technical project determined the set-up of polyurethane tensioned screens on some of the segment faces, spreading the light equally. Only T5 light bulbs were used as they offer lighting efficiency with low-energy consumption with an added bonus of producing less heat. Compared to the same shop before the redecoration, there was a significant overall economy of approximately 70%, once the use of air-conditioning was reduced because less heat is produced by the new lighting project. The outcome is an almost shade less environment with efficient light.
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Nature factory # coolboom

Nature Factory

Suppose Design Office designed a new attractive scenery with plumbing and fashion items to show that such primarily functional things actually are more diverse and also have higher value.
The complex plumbing, trailing by the wall in all directions, covers all over the space. It is like a tree grown over a long time. An atmosphere like a natural arbor is created in the space covered with artificial plumbing.
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CRYSTALS by Daniel Libeskind for MGM MIRAGE City Center # Publ.sept. 2010

CRYSTALS by Daniel Libeskind for MGM MIRAGE City Center

photo © Alexander Garvin

Project Data
Architecture: Studio Daniel Libeskind
Architect of Record: Adamson Associates Architects
Building Area: 500,000 sq. ft.
Completion: 2009
Client: MGM Mirage
Structural Engineer: Halcrow Yolles
Mechanical/Electrical/Plumbing Engineer: Flack + Kurtz Facade Consultant: Israel Berger & Associates
Interior Designer: Rockwell Group
Lighting Designer: Focus Lighting
Collaborating Architects: Foster and Partners, Gensler, Murphy Jahn Architects, KPF, Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects, HKS, Leo A. Daly, RV Architecture Contractor: Perini Building Company

photo © CityCenter Land, LLC

As I was driving down Las Vegas Boulevard in August, I couldn't help but notice the breathtaking MGM Mirage City Center development in the heart of Las Vegas. However, what clearly stood out from an architectural point of view was Daniel Libeskind's CRYSTALS Retail and Entertainment Center. I immediately knew that this was Yatzer-content which we had to share with our dearest YATZEReaders. CRYSTALS belongs to the City Center Complex which is a 16,797,000 square feet (1,560,500 square meter) mixed-use, massive urban complex on 76 acres located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada.

CRYSTALS is a retail district with a total area of 500,000 square feet (46,000 square meters). This retail and entertainment district features high-end retailers, fashionable clubs, gourmet restaurants, galleries, incidental offices and support areas. Studio Daniel Libeskind was commissioned the architectural design of CRYSTALS retail and public space by Adamson Associates as part of the City Center construction project. CRYSTALS seems like a crystaline solid arranged in an orderly repeating manner from all three spatial dimensions. The architectural style of this building follows the "rules" of deconstructivism which is a development of postmodern architecture. Although there typically are no "rules" in architecture to classify a building to a style, the term "deconstructivism" has stayed and is used to incorporate a general trend within contemporary architecture.

Nonetheless, the building is characterized by ideas of fragmentation, while it also tends to manipulate ideas of the structure's surface or skin. The non-rectilinear shapes distort and dislocate some of the architectural elements of the building, such as the structure and envelope. A clear separation between the interior and the exterior environments enhances the building's envelope design, while the finished architectural appearance of the building is characterized by a dynamic unpredictable, yet controlled chaos. The architectural design of the building stands in opposition to the ordered rationality of modernism. The entire project bears Libeskind's architectural style, while the interiors have been completed by Rockwell Group. For the interior architecture, Rockwell Group created an experiential environment that complements the overall city scene.

The crystalline and silver metal-clad facade alerts the passers-by to expect something outstanding, something unconventional; remember, CRYSTALS is no ordinary retail environment. The entryway from the Strip draws pedestrians into the "public arcade, covered by a spiraling roof structure. From the interior, the roof's dramatic angles and skylights become the backdrop for the luxury retail and dining." Luxury retail such as Louis Vuitton, Hermès, Prada, Tom Ford, TIFFANY & CO., and Bulgari, just to name a few; concept restaurants such as Wolfgang Puck and Beso among other fine dining restaurants and clubs can also be found within CRYSTALS. The public spaces of CRYSTALS also allow for an array of urban experiences; outdoor events, a water feature at the entry, cafes and a grand staircase leading to Casino Square at the end of the arcade, animating the entire space, as well as a large sized sculpture by world renowned sculptor, Henry Moore.

The design and construction of CRYSTALS employs the most environmentally conscious practices and materials. In November 2009 it was announced that Crystals achieved LEED Gold Core and Shell certification from the U.S. Green Building Council, making it the world’s largest retail district to receive this level of recognition. CRYSTALS sustainable highlights include: radiant floor cooling, which consumes less energy for air-conditioning; the majority of the wood products are FSC certified where the wood is produced from forests with sustainable management practices; saves 1.8 million gallons of water annually; skylights allow for natural lighting thus saving on artificial lighting; and guests arriving with alternative fuel vehicles have access to preferred parking. Furthermore, till current day, MGM Mirage City Center is the most expensive commercial development in U.S. history being billed by MGM Mirage at approximately $11 billion.