Le Corbusier’s Paris Apartment, France

Step inside the private home of one of the most influential architects of the 20th century. Le Corbusier’s apartment in his own 1930s Paris apartment building, where he lived for over 30 years, opened to the public in 2019 after the building itself (Immeuble Molitor) was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Occupying the seventh and eight floors, the unit has been faithfully restored to its original condition so visitors can see what it would have looked like during his lifetime.

Saarinen House, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan

Considered Finnish-American architect Eliel Saarinen’s Art Deco masterwork, Saarinen House is now open to the public as part of the Cranbrook Art museum in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. It served as Saarinen’s home and studio from 1930 to 1950 and features beautifully restored interiors featuring the architect’s original furnishings, designed in collaboration with his wife, Loja Saarinen (the Cranbrook Academy of Art’s first head of the Weaving Department).

The Beekman Hotel, New York City

If you want to add a traditional space to your list, New York City is full of them, though few are quite as thrilling as The Beekman Hotel. Its spectacular full-height atrium is ringed by balconies with ornate railings and complex tiled floors, and everywhere you look, there are Gilded era wonders to behold. Considered very tall when it was built in 1883, the former Temple Court Building was full of offices leased by lawyers and publishers. In 2016, GKV Architects transformed it into a contemporary 287-room hotel, preserving its historical features and creating cheerful, airy guest rooms. This is one hotel where you’re going to want to spend a lot of time in the lobby.

Casa Luis Barragán, Mexico City

Pritzker Prize-winning architect Louis Barragán made an outsized impression on Mexican architecture and design, and few places are as exemplary of his signature vivid style as his own former Mexico City residence, known as Casa Luis Barragán. Now a museum, the home illustrates Barragán’s masterful combination of modernism and vernacular elements, all hidden behind a humble facade in a working-class neighborhood.

Louis Armstrong House Museum, Queens, New York

The Louis Armstrong House Museum provides not just a window into the life of a jazz legend, but also a time capsule of his particular period of music history. Located on 107th street in Queens, New York, where Armstrong and his wife Lucille lived for the last 28 years of his life, the museum is packed with the musician’s personal take on midcentury modern interior design.

Jewel Changi Airport, Singapore

An airport as a destination? Yes. Really. Singapore’s Jewel Changi Airport is an architectural wonder with dazzling interiors designed to draw crowds, whether they’re actually getting on a plane or not. At its center is a 131-foot waterfall within “Forest Valley,” itself a temperate indoor jungle beneath a massive glass dome planted in a series of tiers to resemble a hilly landscape.

Tianjin Binhai Library, Tianjin, China

If you’re a book lover and interior design enthusiast who also loves to travel, some of the world’s most incredible libraries should be on your radar. You could create a lengthy dream itinerary revolving around both modern and traditional library interiors open to the public — and there are plenty of them, including recently completed wonders like Oslo’s Deichman Bjørvika and historic treasures like the Royal Portuguese Reading Room in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Among the most striking contemporary library interiors can be found in Tianjin, China. Designed by MVRDV, the Tianjin Binhai Library features a topographical, organic series of tiered bookshelves circling around a massive glowing sphere.

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The Eixample neighborhood in Barcelona, Spain was originally laid out in the late 1800s, with wide streets organized on a perfect grid. This canvas provided artists, designers, and architects the perfect opportunity to be creative in their works. As a result, the area hosts the highest concentration of art nouveau architecture in all of Europe.

“Modernisme,” the Catalan term for art nouveau, took off in the late 19th century as a reflection of all things natural. But nature was far from the only architectural theme of an era that also included intense nationalism alongside a rebirth of art, music, opera, and literature. The paradox is that although the terms “art nouveau” and “renaissance” are both accurate here, historically speaking this was actually the Industrial period.

That didn’t stop resident Francesc Burés i Borràs from commissioning a home of grandeur that highlighted the art nouveau zeitgeist of the era. He hired architect Francesc Berenguer i Mestres for the job, an associate of the iconic art nouveau architect Antoni Gaudí. The finished five-story home included a ground floor office, first floor living area for the family, three upper-level rental apartments, and an attic space that housed the servants. Although the floorplan was standard for the time, the design elements stood out as Neo-Gothic and included sculptures, hand-painted murals, mosaics, and stained glass. Around ten years later, the art nouveau style began to fade as art deco and international modernism took center stage.

Over 100 years after the original 1900 build, the residence was left abandoned, neglected, and pilfered. It wasn’t until very recently that a company called Bonavista Developments, who specializes in revamping historic buildings into modern apartments, came to the rescue. Although the building had been vacant for more than four years, it enjoyed landmark status since 1979, which offered protection while the crew documented every nook and cranny of its 80,000 square feet. Through painstaking reconstruction and restoration, modern heating and cooling systems were installed behind the original walls. The original 10 rooms were converted into 26 apartments, and a gym and rooftop pool were added.

The crew then brought in interior design firm Estudio Vilablanch to tackle the furnishings in the kitchens, bathrooms, and more. They attended to the lighting and textiles that offer a peaceful, tranquil vibe when paired the backdrop of accents and embellishments from the original architecture. 

“That allows the period details in the building to ‘breathe,’” co-founder Agnès Vilablanch says. “We wanted to be very honest with what we found but avoid making it look like a museum.” Adds co-founder Elina Vilá: “With so much color and ornamentation already there, we aimed at serenity.”

Today, the Casa Burés stands as a reminder of a decadent era in the design world that is rarely seen today — a time when art and architecture joined forces as a testament to the creativity, imagination, and skills of their creators.

Photos courtesy of InteriorDesign.com

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Airbnb is a great place to find unique houses to rent for short and long stays. Some have lakes and pools onsite, others boast breathtaking vistas from every window, and others still are rustic cabins in the heart of serene forests. For a very limited time, the site will even let you rent out Lucy the Elephant, a 65-foot-tall wood and metal pachyderm who’s been a star attraction of the Jersey Shore since 1881.

Lucy’s Colorful Past

Lucy has been a permanent symbol of Margate (formerly South Atlantic City) since she was conceived and built by James V. Lafferty, an engineer, real estate entrepreneur, and pioneering animal-shaped building constructor. His initial goal with the project was to lure land developers into buying Jersey shore property. Sure enough, Victorian-era tourists were mesmerized by the giant 90-ton elephant. To seal the deal even more, Lafferty ushered prospective clients six stories up the interior staircase into Lucy’s observation deck so they could get a panoramic view of the surrounding area.

In 1887, Lucy got her name from the Gertzen family, who didn’t care for her original moniker of “Elephant Bazaar.” She was quickly transformed into a tavern, and, after that, a summer home for a British doctor and his family. The Gertzens retained ownership of Lucy until 1970, when they kindly bestowed her to the Save Lucy Committee.

Lucy has likely served more purposes over the last 138 years than any other offering on Airbnb. In addition to being used as a tavern and private beach bungalow, Lucy has also been a real estate office, and of course, a popular tourist attraction. The inimitable elephant is also tough and resilient, enduring two relocations, a fire, lightning strikes, hurricanes, floods, break-ins, and lots of general neglect.

In 1969, Lucy faced the worst fate of her life. Her exterior was devastated by years of ruthless marine weather, which made tourists flock to relatively newer attractions. The owners decided to sell the landmark, but the buyers only wanted the land she was on. Subsequently, she was condemned by authorities, and her demolition seemed imminent.

Saving Lucy

Word quickly spread of the plans to destroy Lucy, and the Save Lucy Committee was promptly formed. Together, its members raised enough money to move Lucy to a site owned by the city, soon to become a park. The funds raised by the Save Lucy Committee also paid for Lucy’s huge renovation.

In 1974, Lucy the Elephant was again ready to be a paid tourist attraction after undergoing four long years of restoration. The Save Lucy Committee oversaw both the building and tours, which reportedly brought in around 132,000 visitors every year. $8.50 bought adults for a 30-minute excursion inside the elephant, complete with highlights from her personal history.

The Airbnb Deal

On March 5th, 2020, Lucy the Elephant was made available for booking on Airbnb. It’s a very limited opportunity, with reservations available for the nights of March 17th, 18th, and 19th and just a two-person maximum occupancy. Prospective guests should be aware that there’s no bathroom inside the elephant, but there is one in a trailer conveniently parked at Lucy’s lovely painted feet. For added safety, a staff member and security guard will occupy an adjoining gift shop during the stay. Guests will also be served breakfast inside Lucy come morning. And for just $138 a night, all that sounds like a pretty good deal. Even better, all of the the humble proceeds from the three overnight stays will be used for future repairs and maintenance.

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The book is titled Where Today Meets Tomorrow: Eero Saarinen and the General Motors Technical Center, and it includes photographs, architectural drawings, interviews, documents, and an unprecedented level of insight on the process of creating such an iconic project. When referencing the design, Skarsgard comments: “Every detail is prototypical — they didn’t go off-the-shelf for anything, whether trim work, door handles, and every bit of hardware and wall covering — it’s all completely designed for that space.”

The General Motors Technical Center is located in Warren, Michigan and was Saarinen’s first-ever solo project. Of course, that doesn’t mean this task wasn’t also the brain child of several talented midcentury artists, including names such as Harry Bertoia, Alexander Girard, Florence Knoll, and Alexander Calder. The center was even deemed a National Historic Landmark in 2014. Ironically, despite receiving such acclaim and status, this landmark was not very well known for a long time, as it was mostly kept hidden behind closed doors and only admitted employees and guests. That’s what makes this new book all the more exciting.

The photos in the book give a full picture of the atmosphere around and within the center. The facilities resemble a wide, sweeping campus and cost around 100 million dollars to create. The center has 38 buildings and accommodates over 20,000 employees. The photos also show us the “Design Dome,” which is based on the steel and metals commonly used to make automobiles. The dome is used to display GM’s new product line and is considered the heart of the campus. We’re even given an ariel view of the entire facility, including “The Lake” and its stainless steel water tower.

The book also gives us access to the interiors of the buildings previously seen only by employees and insiders. The technical center’s simple, crisp lobby features large glass windows, reflective tables, and large rectangular arm chairs. The dining area, while also overwhelming linear, incorporates a splash of orange and lush greenery. Everything about the look is minimal and sophisticated while still maintaining comfort.

Eero Saarinen was a famous Finnish-American architect known for multiple high-profile projects. Some of his designs include the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri and the TWA Flight Center of the John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. While architectural design obviously made up a large chunk of his adult life, it was also a considerable part of his childhood. This is because he was the son of acclaimed Finnish architect Gottlieb Eliel Saarinen. Subsequently, Eero’s upbringing and European influences allowed him to become a leader in the International style for architecture, which is similar to modernism but originated in Europe post-WWI.

While Eero did have big shoes to fill growing up, he certainly left a large shadow of his own, designing some of America’s most iconic landmarks.

Photos courtesy of James Haefner

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Right in the middle of urban Los Angeles, black tar bubbles up from the ground, often covered in fallen leaves. A registered National Natural Landmark, the La Brea Tar Pits are a rich source of paleontological treasures, having trapped thousands upon thousands of mammoths and other extinct creatures in its sticky liquid asphalt muck.

Today, they’re at the center of Hancock Park, alongside the George C. Page Museum, which itself is full of millions of fossils from the pits, including saber-toothed cats, dire wolves, bison, ground sloths, and more. The Tar Pits are the only active paleontological research facility in the world located in a major urban area, and their centerpiece is currently a group of mammoth statues emerging from the fenced-in Lake Pit.

The 12-acre park and its surroundings are due for a makeover, and three major architecture firms are competing to overhaul them, with three very different approaches in mind.

New York-based Weiss/Manfredi proposes preserving most of the park’s existing architecture, adding an elliptical new wing that will facilitate a more cohesive journey throughout the grounds. This wing cuts into the landscape of the park so that anyone walking along the outside can peek into the museum. They would also plant hundreds of additional trees on site and build walkways right over the pits.

“The La Brea Loops and Lenses form a triple mobius that links all existing elements of the park to redefine Hancock Park as a continuously unfolding experience, connecting three distinguishing identities that are latent within the park today: Research and Revelation — the site of the excavation pits and Pleistocene Garden; Community and Culture — where the museum and central green are located; and Spectacle and Urban Fictions — where the lake pit and mastodons join the public imagination on Wilshire Boulevard. The different identities of the loops embody journeys, with programming that appeals to diverse interests — from paleontology to bird watching, from science to play.”

Danish architecture firm Dorte Mandrup would add a new floor and rooftop garden to the museum while keeping the mammoths intact. Their main goal is to expand the museum’s floor area without taking away from the green space outside.

“Our proposal interweaves the park and museum, so [from] the moment you step inside the park you become immersed into the story of the Tar Pits. We want a visit here to be a journey of curiosity, where senses and imagination are instantly awakened. Our hope is that this will bring visitors much closer to the world of natural science, and in turn heighten their understanding of the past, present, and future of our planet.”

By far the most radical of the three, Diller Scofidio + Renfro’s proposal would raze the entire museum and rebuild it as a series of stacked, overlapping plates surrounding a glass box, which would house exhibition, collection, and laboratory spaces.

“As an urbanized culture, we are rarely conscious of the geological forces that shape the ground we walk (and drive) on. A new masterplan for the La Brea Tar Pits and Page Museum offers a unique opportunity to not only heighten awareness of the natural history held underfoot, but also to engender a sense of responsibility towards the role humans play in shaping the environment they inherit.”

The firm continues: “A revitalized Hancock Park is conceived to be the connective tissue between existing and new institutions, public spaces, and urban infrastructure. We have taken a ‘light touch’ approach for the next evolution of the Page Museum, infilling underutilized spaces and reconfiguring what is already there to create a more dynamic and efficient hybrid structure that is both building and landscape.”

Displays of each proposal will be on view at the museum at La Brea Tar Pits through September 15th, so the public can check out renderings, models, and drawings and provide feedback either on-site or online. The Natural History Museums of Los Angeles County are expected to decide on one by the end of the year.

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Massive quantities of the toxic substance, which was present in the cathedral’s spire and roof, are said to have been dispersed into the air and deposited on the ground. Environmental groups in France have banded together with a top labor union to demand that the Notre Dame be covered and sealed while lead concerns are addressed.

“The 440 tonnes of lead that went up in smoke during the fire represent more than four times the annual lead emissions in the atmosphere for all of France,” said Annie Thébaud-Mony, a researcher and spokesperson for the environmental health group Association Henri Pézerat during a press conference outside the 850-year-old cathedral.

Lead is a neurotoxin, and its effects include decreased intellectual capacity in children, male fertility, and transmission to new generations. It’s stored in the bones for decades, too, and can be released back into the bloodstream during pregnancy, greatly endangering the fetus.

The proposed process would involve enveloping the entire building in airtight plastic sheeting draped over a metal scaffolding, which would drop the air pressure within the tent to keep lead particles from leaking inside while decontamination work is carried out.

Under pressure from the groups, the City of Paris has temporarily paused decontamination work to do an assessment of the cathedral. It was initially said that work would resume this week, but even that start date has now been postponed while more drastic decontamination measures are considered — despite Deputy mayor Emmanuel Gregoire’s insistence that there is no risk around the damaged landmark.

Some of the techniques that could be used include spreading a gel on the ground that absorbs the lead, which has to sit for three days before it’s removed, or using high-pressure water jets with chemical agents to decontaminate the soil.

At the end of July, two schools southwest of the cathedral, which were downwind of the fire, were closed over lead fears. About 175 children were tested, and so far, two have been found to have high levels of lead in their blood, while another 16 are considered borderline and require monitoring.

Workers, police officers, firefighters, street cleaners, and staff at the hotel across the street are also at risk, says Benoit Martin, leader of the Paris CGT Union. He urges all responders, clean-up crews, and people who live and work nearby to get blood tests.

“If the calendar for Notre-Dame’s reconstruction is delayed a few months, that isn’t a problem to us,” Martin said. “What’s important to us isn’t the calendar some people want to go quickly. One has to take the time to treat the problems one after the other: contain, decontaminate, rebuild.”

Gregoire says the sites will be “rigorously cleaned” before the school year starts in September, and that children will only be allowed to return if the schools are deemed safe by health authorities. Still, he rejected the idea of containing the cathedral in plastic, calling it unnecessary.

The public can view updates on lead test results at the City of Paris website.

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Located on the second floor, with access via a private elevator on the tower’s south pillar, the restaurant named for the famous author and playwright will offer breakfast, lunch, and dinner prepared by three-Michelin-starred chef Frédéric Anton of the esteemed Paris restaurant Le Pré Catelan.

Architect and interior designer Aline Asmar d’Amman wanted to infuse the space with a modern Parisian sensibility while also creating connections to the tower’s 19th-century beginnings and the literary universe created by Jules Verne. After its six-month transformation, the result is just as chic as you’d expect.

Set 125 meters (about 410 feet) in the air, Le Jules Verne grants guests a 360-degree view of the River Seine, the Sacré Coeur, the Tour Montparnasse, and other beloved Parisian landmarks. The decor blends soft velvet textiles in bone and cloud-gray with dark wood and metallic accents.

Strategically located mirrors help reflect the glow of the sky outside and the surrounding views to all parts of the restaurant, no matter where you’re seated. A photo of the Eiffel Tower taken by Karl Lagerfeld, who was a close friend of d’Amman’s, hangs in the alcove.

As part of the new creative team, many of whom are women, d’Amman wanted to “showcase the best in feminine creativity,” as she told WWD.

“It’s not always easy to be a woman in this field. But I feel perseverance is a very feminine trait: once the machine starts, you can’t get it to stop. I hope this project triggers something within women architects, decorators, and artists, and encourages them to never give up.”

Among the elements in the new restaurant created by women are mirrored wall panels by Ingrid Donat, metal table centerpieces by Marie Khouri, and gold leaf panels in the entrance hall made by several female artisans.

A piece in Architectural Digest offers a deeper look into d’Amman’s creative process, explaining: “While working on the restaurant, Jules Verne’s Voyages Extraordinaires was always close at hand, as were books by Jean Cocteau and about Jeanne Lanvin. D’Amman also kept things light, referring to a children’s book titled A Comme Eiffel, or ‘Like Eiffel,’ throughout her process. These books were needed, as d’Amman puts it, ‘to keep the ongoing dose of [levity], passion, and imagination during the most complex moments of the project.’ Just like her designs, it seems that books really are magic.”

D’Amman founded her firm Culture in Architecture in 2011 in her native Beirut, Lebanon.

As for the food, Chef Anton has pledged to use only the freshest products from specific regions of France, showcasing the country’s finest culinary delights. The menu includes a lobster and truffle ravioli with parmesan, crab with an apple mousse for dessert, and seaweed and fresh cod with fennel alongside some of France’s greatest wines.

Hoping to experience this unparalleled dining experience yourself? You can check out examples of the seasonal four or five-course tasting menus at the Jules Verne Restaurant website.

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Over 133 acres of land directly around the most internationally recognizable landmark in Paris will soon get a makeover, transforming the visitor experience just in time for the city to host the 2024 Olympic Games. British firm Gustafson Porter + Bowman has been selected to transform the landscape around the Eiffel Tower in a scheme called OnE | (One Line), which aims to create both the largest public garden in Paris and a sense of continuity with other local monuments.

30 million people visit the Eiffel Tower each and every year, but things like impaired accessibility, a lack of services, congested gardens, and overcrowding make the experience decidedly less magical than it could be. The City of Paris set out to eliminate these problems with the Site Tour Eiffel Competition, launched in 2018.

Gustafson Porter + Bowman beat out entries from Carlo Ratti Associati, Amanda Levete, Agence Ter, and other notable names in landscape design with their vision for a green corridor stretching from the Palais de Chaillot at the Place du Trocadéro to the École Militaire at the Place Joffre, bringing structured paths, vegetation, and pools to this major tourist artery.

The new design also straddles the river Seine, ushering visitors through an array of traditional French gardens, places for hosting temporary events like musical performances, and sculptural exhibitions.

The architects explain: “Along this central green axis, a series of reimagined landscapes interlock: at the Place du Trocadéro, an amphitheater of greenery restores space to pedestrians; a new and enlivened public space unfolds from the Varsovie Fountains towards the Pond d’léna; the bridge is reincarnated as a green promenade towards the gardens of the Eiffel Tower; the forecourt of the Eiffel Tower caters to the crowds with additional services and facilities discreetly hidden amongst the trees; and the raised lawns of the Champ de Mars protect and elevate the landscape.”

“OnE also creates spaces of pleasure and contemplation that punctuate the length of the site and serve to prioritize the human scale. New perspectives are framed and staged, rebalancing the gravitational pull of the Eiffel Tower and activating a sense of arrival throughout. The OnE proposal establishes a coherent and refined hierarchy of uses across the site, improving pedestrian accessibility and city circulation.”

The designers hope to unite the elegance and baroque detail of traditional French landscapes with experimental modern sensibilities. Terraced seating, playgrounds, bicycle paths, restaurants, information kiosks, and modernization of the area’s heritage lighting are also included in the plans. The pedestrianization of the bridge is a particularly nice touch, with lanes kept open for both public transportation and emergency vehicles.

After the loss of much of the Notre Dame Cathedral to fire, it may hearten admirers of the Eiffel Tower to hear that the iconic landmark will stay untouched itself, remaining exactly as it always has other than the land around its base.

The greening of the Eiffel Tower corridor represents just one facet of Paris’ plan to host the most sustainable Olympic Games in history. This first phase of redevelopment is set to be completed by 2023.

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The Capital Improvement Project commissioned Josef Kristofoletti to brighten up the corner of the parking garage that serves the Austin Convention Center on the corner of 2nd and Brazos streets. Painted by hand, the Tau Ceti rainbow mural took about five weeks to complete. It was finished in November 2018 and officially dedicated by the city’s Art in Public Places program on March 13th, 2019.

The Transylvania-born, Austin-based artist says he named the mural “Tau Ceti” for a star in the constellation Cetus, which shares a similar infrared spectrum to our solar system’s own sun. The color patterns were designed to reflect the light coming off adjacent walls to create a luminous effect that shifts in intensity all throughout the day. In bright sunlight, halos of light appear, but it’s the cloudier weather that reveals the mural’s vivid gradients of color to the fullest effect.

It’s also meant to signify unity and diversity, Kristofoletti explains. He sees it as a relevant symbol for downtown Austin, a notoriously unique and artistic city.

“I love watching the sunlight as it’s reflected off of windows onto other buildings, [so] I wondered how it would look if that moving light was refracted into a spectrum. When I came up with the idea for this piece I noticed that in the summer afternoon the reflected light covers this inverted corner of the building at 2nd and Brazos, so as the sun appears higher in the sky over the spring, it will become an experience to see it during the right time of the day. I can’t wait to see how it will look. There is a glimpse of this effect you can see in the morning but it lasts just a few minutes,” the artist told Do512, a website highlighting fun things to do in Austin. As you might imagine, this instantly iconic new landmark is supremely Instagrammable. It’s cool to see all the different angles visitors manage to capture because of that, some using drones, matching their outfits to the mural, or even taking 360-degree shots. If you ever feel like browsing through the Tau Ceti selfie catalog, be sure to check out the hashtags #tauceti, #austinmurals, and #ATXmurals.

A former artist in residence at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, Josef Kristofoletti is known for murals “that address ideas about nature, technology, space, and architecture.” He takes inspiration from influences as diverse as prehistoric caves, Renaissance paintings, and the intersection of art and architecture. While at CERN, he painted a four-story mural on two of the exterior walls of the organization’s headquarters depicting a full-color diagram of its massive particle detector. He says he had to complete extensive nuclear hazard management training just to get permission to paint at the facility. He moved to Austin in 2010 and has since painted a number of notable murals throughout the city.

Drone photography by Nae Daze via YouTube

The post Austin’s New Hot Spot is a 100-Foot-Tall Rainbow Mural first appeared on Dornob.

MAD Architects envisions a fluid, reflective staircase that will pierce the roof of the pre-existing Fenix warehouse, soaring through a new atrium on the building’s first and second floors and up toward the sky to act as a sculptural overlook. Renderings depict the staircase as a dramatic blue swirl gleaming in the sunlight, adjacent to an enormous abstracted seagull perched on the edge of the warehouse’s roof.

In selecting the Chinese firm to bring the project to life, the Droom en Daad [“Dream and Do”] Foundation honors both the merits of the firm’s striking design and the fact that its location was once home to one of Europe’s oldest Chinatowns. This project marks the first time a public cultural building in Europe has been designed by a Chinese architectural agency.

“Around the 1900s, it was here that one could find opium kits, and that the first Chinese restaurant opened its doors in the Netherlands, and possibly in Europe,” explains the MAD team. “By choosing MAD Architects for this project, this forgotten part of history will be brought to life once more.”

Droom en Daad also commissioned the Rotterdam-based company Bureau Polderman to restore the historic warehouse, which used to be among the largest of its kind in the world. Built in 1923 by Dutch architect CN van Goor, its contained within an expansive concrete building once used for the storage and shipment of commodities. Two railway lines cut right into the building — an especially remarkable feature given the time period.

Parts of the complex were damaged during World War II, and though they were later rebuilt, port activity eventually relocated to the west, rendering it obsolete. Now, on the eve of their rebirth, the Fenix name seems more fitting than ever before. The new structure creates an eye-catching silhouette at the water’s edge, acting as a fresh landmark for the city of Rotterdam.

The firm went on to explain that the facility’s first floor would soon function as a museum highlighting Rotterdam’s history of migration, as millions of migrants left Europe through this port on their way to new lives in the United States.

“We are proud to realize a dynamic transformation of the historical warehouse that will encourage people to move through the space, and be enjoyed by the community,” says Ma Yansong, founder of MAD Architects. “It will lift body and mind and be a place of pleasure and contemplation. The Fenix will inspire wonder and exploration about the past, the present, and the future.”

Wim Pijbes, Director of the Droom en Daad Foundation, says MAD was his first choice for the job from the very beginning, mostly because he knew they’d be able to come up with something organic and feminine to soften the industrial skyline of the Katendrecht borough.

“The Fenix Warehouse will become a landmark for all those millions who left Europe from the banks of the Maas, and for everybody arriving today,” he adds. “It offers a great future for Rotterdam’s past.”

The post A Spiral Staircase Pierces the Roof of This Historic Warehouse Turned Landmark first appeared on Dornob.

When it comes to the visual language that the new Norra Tornen brings to Stockholm, it looks the city may need a little help in the way of translation.

Norra Tornen (Swedish for North Towers) is a landmark project being built in the city’s Hagastaden district, consisting of two swanky residential towers. The first of these structures, the 35-story Innovationen Tower, was completed in November of 2018, while the second Helix Tower is expected to be finished in 2020. Despite being half-done, the complex is already the tallest residential project in all of Sweden.

Compared to the rest of the neighborhood, the OMA-designed Norra Tornen seems to be speaking an entirely different language, and doing it loudly at that. With no other precedent to compare itself to or communicate with, the towers struggle to relate to their surrounding low-rise context.

While juxtaposition can be harmonious in architecture, allowing the best qualities of disparate styles to really pop while remaining respectful to one another, Norra Tornen strikes no such balance. With the béton brut of Brutalism, the project tries to relate to its brick-clad neighborhood, but its size and height negates all of its efforts. The only respect shown here is to the country as a whole, with the towers’ fluted façades being made up of colored concrete panels made entirely in Sweden.

To fill in some leftover space on the site, the base of each tower has been slightly twisted, which at least makes the buildings look less bulky at street level. That’s just one of two pleasantries Norra Tornen exchanges with the rest of Hagastaden, but even here things feel inappropriate. The windows of the project are out of scale for the area, making the whole thing feel as if storefronts have been stacked to make a 460-foot-high complex. The upper-middle class and upscale residents will love it for its abundant natural light and warmth, as well as the level of emotional well-being it’ll bring them. But did the windows really have to be that large?

The second positive is the way the buildings taper as they rise, consequently reducing the presence of their shadows in the surrounding neighborhood. Unfortunately, it just reads like one of those standard apologies that follows architectural narcissism. You can almost hear the architects using that tapering to defend the project in public consultations, which is why feels like little more than a token design move — one normally enforced by city bylaws and local design standards anyways.

When all is said and done, Norra Tornen is as much of a social media landmark as it is an investment for wealthy Swedes. The problem with buildings that grab your attention online is that they do not always translate well within their geographic context. In cities where too many of these buildings are erected, their impact becomes the equivalent of a a noisy out-of-control party with distinct conversations happening all throughout. The Innovationen Tower will just have to talk to itself until Helix arrives.

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Some conferences that are targeted toward business professionals create immersive worlds filled with diversions for attendees to step into. When Adobe put on its Worldwide Sales Conference in Las Vegas earlier this year, the company offered attendees an immersive experience by filling the space with technology, live music, and a dream-like ambiance. For one gala, illuminated balls were hung from the ceiling of a typical hotel ballroom to add a softer layer to an otherwise flat and rectilinear surface. Believe it or not, the simple gesture of giving an event space a colorful canopy actually encourages attendees to network with each other more freely. Now throw in a quartet of violinists, and what would normally be just another business dinner becomes a more relaxed gathering where attendees feel more comfortable engaging with one another. Just imagine the same space without the suspended elements, and you start to get an idea of the forced conversations that might occur — even with the live music there.

Working nature into an event space helps attendees think more lucidly and can help them be more creative. A 2013 article in The Atlantic explains that natural environments are better for humans’ mental functionality than built environments, mostly because the former evoke calmness. Even when we’re inside of a building, having a view of a natural setting has proven to be more relaxing than having a view of a cityscape. At the 2016 edition of C2 Montreal, a conference that connects creativity and business, a rainforest was constructed inside the event space, with acrobats in aprons swinging through some of the scaffolding used to make it. Attendees were given partners at random and asked to walk through the forest under a pathway of rain as they shared an umbrella. The idea behind the umbrella-sharing exercise was inspired by that of taking a shower, as some people swear that they come up with their best ideas there. Doing it with a stranger just adds a level of serendipity to it all.

Temporary landmarks within a space can also help attendees remember an event in a way that lighting fixtures and custom-built natural settings cannot. These focal points could take the form of art installations that require interaction, large sculptures that can be walked on, or anything that momentarily demands attention and participation, like a group of people having a meeting while suspended from the ceiling. Surely, having a meeting on the ceiling is not a normal experience, but that’s the point. Each temporary landmark is similar to a miniature event within a much larger one.

For those responsible for designing events, the objective is to create memorable spaces where attendees can learn, participate, and have fun. Though these are work-related events, they are also breaks from work that should stimulate creativity, ambition, and keep their attendees engaged.

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The St. Jansklooter water tower in the Netherlands sits directly in the middle of the De Wieden National Park, a protected nature reserve. While the tower once provided a vital service to the surrounding town, it has now itself become a protected landmark. Zecc Architects were brought in to transform the water tower from a lovely landmark into a functional way to enjoy the surrounding nature reserve.

The architects added a winding staircase of natural wood to the industrial interior of the water tower leading up to a spectacular observation deck from which to take in the breathtaking scenery. The first part of the staircase leads up to an interior room that displays the original metal stairs alongside the newer wooden stairs.

Following the wooden stairs up further, visitors can still see the original stairs which wound around the interior wall of the tower. The new stairs zig-zag their way up to the top, creating a lovely contrast between the older, industrial materials and the warmer, more natural wood.

The second room visitors will reach is a tall chamber that lets them take in the massive size of the of the concrete reservoir overhead. From there, the original stairs are used again to let visitors walk in a spiral around the inside of the reservoir, further intensifying the feeling of wonderment at the size of the landmark.

At the very top of the monument, part of the water tower’s lid has been removed to create a stunning look-out for visitors. A transparent floor – certainly not for those afraid of heights – lets you look down through the interior of the water tower. Several new windows were added alongside the existing windows, allowing for an even wider view of the surrounding nature preserve.

The architects were careful to retain the traditional look of the structure so that the conversion would not interfere with the historical nature of the water tower. The exterior has been left completely untouched and the interior has been only minimally altered, retaining the landmark’s historic appearance and pleasing the residents of the area who view the water tower and the nature reserve as communal property.

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Markus Georg has a talent for recreating extraordinary landmarks known the world over … in mundane ways with ordinary materials. Wait … what? Indeed, instead of setting up the standard shot that everyone who visits a place has come to recognize, he plays off our memory of these famous objects (seen in person or in photos). The everyday scenes he composes elicit a pattern-recognition response and challenge us to rethink images we have seen many times over.

His subjects range from well-known man-made monuments to natural wonders of the world, skylines to memorials – some more recognizable to a global population than others. In each case he takes surprisingly drab colors and commonplace materials, emphasizing the contrast between the scene he is copying and the setting he creates and photographs. the title of the series is “Die Macht Der Bilder” – which translates into “The Power of Photos.”

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