The Chapel House

Another great conversion by ZECC Architecten, this time an apartment in a converted chapel located in Utrecht, Netherlands. It’s on the second floor (added?), and because there were no windows at floor height, the firm designed one to be cut into the front on the street side to bring in more light - it vaguely resembles a Mondrian painting.

Before...

After...

Together with the original stained-glass windows up on high, and the white-painted interior, the whole effect is simply amazing.

The bedroom and bathroom were left dark.The original organ remains as a reference to the history of the building - it’s a nice conversation piece, that’s for sure…..
via Materialicio

Wall stair...

From the portfolio of Aaron Tang a proposal for a staircase made of simple mechanical hinges and pistons, that folds flush against the wall to allow easier access a lower space.
The Wall-Stair
Using simple mechanical hinges and pistons, this inventive staircase easily folds flush up against a wall to expand a lower space and/or to restrict access to an upper floor. The mechanics within the design allow any person to easily open or close the staircase from upstairs or downstairs. Inner pistons help slide the stairs back up swiftly to create a flush wall. The pistons also act as a gradient to lower each step individually after the stairs have been pulled out, creating a gradual, elegant wave-like pattern as the steps individually lock into place.
This project originated from a door project in which I was asked to define what a door was and could be. I defined a door as "an element of a wall that allowed passageway to another environment when opened and restricted passageway when closed."

Water Tower house

A good example of conversion architecture by ZECC Architecten are a old Water Tower converted into a residence in Soest, Utrecht, Netherlands.

Water Tower before...

The ZECC Project...

Water Tower after...

Brother-Claus-Chapel by Arch. Peter Zumthor

Germany, Mechernich-Wachendorf, the Brother-Claus-Chapel is sanctified to the holy Niklaus von Fluehe, so called Brother Claus1417-1487. The chapel was built 2005-2007 with Swiss architect Peter Zumthor. On his own ground donated and built by farmer Hermann-Josef and Trudel Scheidtweiler, the whole family and helpers to praise god and in honor to Holy Niklaus von Fluehe.

Sin Den - the black house...

Located in Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Sin Den was desgined by Klein Dytham architecture for a young couple and their baby. Part house, part ‘cutting-edge’ salon, the building is meant to attract ‘those who have their own style and seek a perfect hideaway’.
From the exterior the house/salon is meant to stand out and draw attention to itself. Filling the 50 square meter site with what is essentially a black box, the designers were trying to create a strong graphic image on the otherwise simple and massive box - displaying the creativity and uniqueness of the home’s inhabitants.
The interior of the building is, apparently, quite the opposite - creating what Klein Dytham describes as the ‘perfect interior for a family home’ through a simpler design, with ‘natural’ colors and spaces flooded with natural light from the large windows cut in the ‘box’.

Matteo Thun

Matteo Thun was born in 1952 in bolzano/alto adige, he studied under oskar kokoschka at the salzburg academy. in 1975 he was awarded his ph.d. in architecture at the university of florence, italy. in collaboration with ettore sottsass he grounded the sottsass associati and the memphis design group in 1981. between 1983 and 1996 he was professor of design at the university of applied arts in vienna. in 1984 he inaugurated his own design studio in milan.
This environmentally friendly, sustainable, modular private house, call Heidis, makes you live in close contact with nature and it´s ready in a matter of weeks.

Matteo Thun Portrait (2006)

Interview for Euromaxx on DW-TV.

The Ring House, Japan by Ach. Makoto Takei and Chie Nabeshima (TNA)

TNA Architects designs a country retreat outside of Tokyo

When architects Makoto Takei and Chie Nabeshima (TNA) were asked to design a weekend house 185 miles from Tokyo, they came up with an ethereal, glass and wood mini-tower. Standing three storeys tall amid thick vegetation, it offers uninterrupted 360-degree views, its transparent skin flooded with light during the day and glowing at night when lit from within.

They have designed a striking mini-tower on spec for a planned community in the town of Karuizawa, some 185 miles northwest of the Japanese capital. The Ring House is wrapped in rings of glass and wood and has an uninterrupted 360-degree view of the forest. In an area that was dark, on uneven land and with no neightbours this plot of land was originally unmarkable. But TNA Architects were undeterred by the conditions and set about designing the house. TNA designed rings around the facade so that areas of private space and utilities could be met. The height of each ring was decided by the function concealed behind it. The glass between the rings allow you to look straight into the forest, so the whole house appears to dissolve into the forest. Built on Owners' Hill, a resort in the Karuizawa forest near Tokyo, Ring House occupies one of the hundred or so plots set aside for city dwellers to build weekend retreats.