Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Club MUSEE - Madrid




Club MUSÉE is Madrid’s fresh take on what night clubs could be — a combination art gallery and night club, but both with a sharp, trendy edge.


Designed by creative director and designer Parolio of Madrid’s Parolio & Euphoria Lab the space provides a strong back-drop for powerful art.


At Club MUSÉE black glass and mirrors, bright-colored sculptural furniture and a three-meter-wide  LED video screen create a visual challenge for the artists’ work that ranges from paintings to video art and other  installations.


The work of upcoming photography and illustration talent is currently on display from photographer Robert Bartholot from Berlin,  Paco Peregrín from Madrid  and illustrator Glenn Hilario from New York.


The visual feast is supported by music mixed by Madrid’s hottest DJs who offer electronic, pop and house music.

Parolio’s strong sense of drama, theater and color work well at Club MUSÉE, and is evident in many of his other projects, including Pacha Madrid night club and Le Marquis restaurant and lounge.  - Bill Tikos


Tuesday, March 22, 2011

apartment-in-el-born-by-arquitectura-g



Apartment in El Born by Arquitectura-G
Spanish studio Arquitectura-G have renovated this apartment in the El Born area of Barcelona by adding wooden storage and mezzanines.
Apartment in El Born by Arquitectura-G
Divided in two by a solid wall, the apartment comprises a kitchen and dining area on one side with a living room, study and bedroom on the other.
Apartment in El Born by Arquitectura-G
Thin white metal steps lead from this second part to a mezzanine that extends over half the floor area, with an even higher platform holding the bed.
Apartment in El Born by Arquitectura-G
Photographs are by José Hevia.
Apartment in El Born by Arquitectura-G
Here are some more details from the architects:

Accommodation of 34 m2 and 4.5 m in height, divided by a load bearing wall in two rooms of similar size, located in El Born in Barcelona.
Apartment in El Born by Arquitectura-G
Assuming this separation, the housing project divides into two areas:
The first consists of the kitchen and a mobile cabinet, which operates as a bar, kitchen side table and dining table. It is a social area linked to the driveway, which improves the electrical installation and use television to spread beyond the mere fact of cooking and eating.
Apartment in El Born by Arquitectura-G
The second stay, however, responds to needs of a greater degree of privacy. That is why the space is fragmented into different trays that house the program in height, providing a gradient of intimacy without losing the visual connection between them.
Apartment in El Born by Arquitectura-G
Thus, the first tray, which occupies half the area of ​​this room, is understood as an ambiguous space dressing room and study area. The second highest one-quarter of the plant surface, contains the space for a bed.
Apartment in El Born by Arquitectura-G
For the resolution of this scheme in height, are particularly important furniture, adapting to different places, meeting the urgent need for storage, and the connection and relationship between levels.
Apartment in El Born by Arquitectura-G
Neglecting current standards of habitability and construction, it gives each area the necessary scale for each item and use the appropriate features.
Apartment in El Born by Arquitectura-G
The spaces are formed depending on the size and privacy they require, and wealth is given by the relations generated between them. For this reason, rather than speaking of space “up” or “below”, we can talk of “spaces between”, “spaces next to” or “spaces.”
Apartment in El Born by Arquitectura-G
Work: Reform of Housing in the Born, Barcelona
Architects: ARCHITECTURE-G (Jonathan Arnabat, Jordi Ayala Bril, Aitor Fuentes, Igor Urdanpileta)
Contributor: David Fernandez Taboada
Sponsor: Ms. Santarelli
Location: Barcelona (Spain)
Reformed Surface: 34 m²
Project Year: 2010
Year built: 2011

Friday, March 18, 2011

MINIM, Barcelona Loft



0minimloft01.jpgMINIM, Barcelona Loft
Last month we showed you Zecc Architects' skillful repurposing of various structures—churches, schools, factories—into living spaces. The overall structures were left formally intact and recognizable while the surfaces were cleaned up and modernized, providing a beautiful "best of both worlds" combination that skewed more to the clean side of things.
Then there's the visually "dirtier" side of things. Another firm doing industrial-to-living conversions is Barcelona-based MINIM, comprised of designers Elina Vila and Agnes Blanch, with a slightly different philosophy: Rather than cleaning, replacing or re-sheetrocking the surfaces, their goal in a recent printing factory conversion was to preserve and even expose as much of the original texture as possible, removing layers of plaster and cement in a procedure that's more art than science:

0minimloft02.jpg
0minimloft03.jpg
The surfaces were then sealed in a protective clearcoat, so you're not constantly sweeping up that fresh layer of grit. The results are stunning, and bring to mind something more in line with the original Soho artist's loft.
Check out more shots here.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Alemanys 5 by Anna Noguera



Alemanys 5 by Anna Noguera SQ
Barcelona architect Anna Noguera has converted a sixteenth-century house in Girona into two contemporary holiday apartments.
Alemanys 5 by Anna Noguera 1
The conversion employs a palette of steel, concrete and oak.
Alemanys 5 by Anna Noguera 2
The house retains its traditional “badiu” or covered balcony and a pool has been added in the walled garden.
Alemanys 5 by Anna Noguera 4
Alemanys 5, which overlooks Plaça de Sant Domènec in the Catalan city’s medieval quarter, can be rented throughWelcome Beyond.
Alemanys 5 by Anna Noguera 5
Here’s some info from Welcome Beyond plus text from the architect:

Architect: Anna Noguera (www.annanoguera.com)
Location: Carrer Alemanys, 5 17004 Girona Spain
Alemanys 5 by Anna Noguera 6
Description
Located in the core part of Girona’s medieval quarter, within the scope of the first wall and overlooking the Plaça de Sant Domènec, is the property Alemanys 5, whose original building dates from the Sixteenth Century.
Alemanys 5 by Anna Noguera 7
Its recent restoration integrates old and new, where sober and clean lines look for the enjoyment of essential elements such as space, light, shadow, fire, stone, water or silence.
Alemanys 5 by Anna Noguera 8
Apartments
“El Badiu” (The Veranda) is a 180 m2 duplex in the upper two floors equipped with a master suite and two children suites, kitchen-dining room, great living room with fireplace and a spectacular veranda terrace facing south with exclusive views over the old quarter. It sleeps up to 5 – 6 people.
Alemanys 5 by Anna Noguera 9
“El Jardí” (The Garden) is a 100 m2 apartment equipped with two double bedrooms, a spacious bathroom, a large living room with kitchenette and a nice private garden with solarium and swimming pool. It sleeps 4 – 5 people. The house can also be rented as a whole unit, with 5 bedrooms sleeping 10 – 12 people.
Alemanys 5 by Anna Noguera 10
Amenities
Car park, elevator, fireplace, staellite TV, DVD, stereo and Internet access. Daily cooking and cleaning service is available upon request.
Alemanys 5 by Anna Noguera 11
Interior
Furniture: www.pabordia.com
Lightning: www.susaeta.net
Alemanys 5 by Anna Noguera 3
Anna Noguera, architect of Alemanys 5:
”The reform has been approached as a search for the most intrinsic characteristics of the actual construction, while the building is freed of additions, surface elements and recent reforms, interpreting the old elements not so much through an historical optic as through their architectural qualities.
Alemanys 5 by Anna Noguera Plans 1
Click above for larger image
Alemanys 5 is situated in the oldest part of Girona’s Barri Vell (Old District) inside the area of the first ramparts. Its location on calle Alemanys is special as it stands in front of one of the old fates of the wall, the Rufina gate, which provides views from the house to the convent of Sant Domènec and from there to the house, with the vision of the Cathedral as a backdrop. Although it is difficult to determine the antiquity of the built bodies, the most important reform dates from the sixteenth century. It later underwent many other reforms and additions that disfigured the original volumetry.
Alemanys 5 by Anna Noguera Plans 1
Click above for larger image
The site consists of a built body and a lateral garden with the façade giving on to the street. Two centrelines structure the building, one giving on to the street and another one to the interior part of the plot, with crossed facades giving on to the courtyard and garden. A large covered porch, or “badiu”, crowns the street façade and is one of the most characteristic elements of the house. In the courtyard, an old cistern collects rainwater from the roof.
Alemanys 5 by Anna Noguera Plans 3
Click above for larger image
The new layout respects the logic of the structure to adapt it to the new functional requirements. On the ground floor, from the main door, the vestibule and small premises are accessed, on the first floor are a dwelling with an exit to courtyard and garden, and the second and third floors accommodate a duplex dwelling, with the night zone in the lower floor and the living room and kitchen in the upper floor to provide vistas and a roofed terrace.
The project is organised around the two centrelines that structure the floor plan. The staircase has been shifted to place it next to the lift, in the interstitial space between the two directional lines of the centrelines. This space is configured as the hinge that generates the entire layout.
The refurbishment has been undertaken with very few materials: iron, concrete and oak wood. The forgings are exposed. They are in concrete with wooden shuttering, or wooden beams and beam fillings for the roof. Lintels and crowning of the stone walls are executed in steel sheeting one centimetre thick.
The staircase and lift space is lined in Corten steel panels to differentiate it as a hinge space. The floors of the staircase and front centreline are covered in wooden floorboards and those of the back centreline in polished concrete. The stone walls are exposed both in the exterior and in the interior, with special attention paid to the texture, colour and execution of the joins. The facing stones of the demolished constructions are recovered for cladding the cistern courtyard. It was sought to preserve the natural colour and texture of the materials in order to better integrate them with the colour and texture of the stones.
The garden, framed by tall stone walls, is formalised into three consecutive planes that go from hardest to softest: concrete, turf and water. The paved zone contiguous to the house is in planed concrete and is covered by a set of cables on to which the wisteria can climb. The plane of turf, finished off with a steel profile, floats above the water of the pool. It is like a dark, long reservoir that overflows and disappears, reflecting the neighbouring wall.”

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