The poetry of the English countryside between barns and spas
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The refined restoration of a rural hamlet by Richard Parr Associates adds to the process of promoting one of Somerset's most evocative hospitality venues. The latest in a series of restoration and development projects on an 800-acre site, the 2,000 square metre farm hamlet comprising nine historic buildings, which looks like something out of a Jane Austen book, is now an enchanting place of hospitality with 17 suites, a restaurant, an indoor swimming pool and spa, a bar, a games room and a shelter for bicycles and electric vehicles.
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KAAN Architecten completes the main phase for Antwerp’s Royal Museum of Fine Arts
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The extension is grafted inside the existing museum and it leaves its silhouette unchanged, stressing the importance of the institution as a permanent presence in the city’s rapidly transforming landscape. KAAN Architecten have been working on the renovation and extension of Antwerp’s Royal Museum of Fine Arts since 2003, when they won the competition launched by the Flemish government. The building is a typical example of large scale 19th century museum.
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A striking interior for an anonymous villa in the Swiss countryside
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Bureau Brisson reinterprets the interior of a three-storey villa, fluidifying the passage between rooms with new openings and extending the combinations of finishes beyond expectations. Based on the input received from the owners, the architects rethinks a small three-level villa through an intervention focused on the ground floor.
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An escheresque house created out of two historic buildings in Ghent
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Studio Atelier Vens Vanbelle designs a family home inside a complex originally erected in the of 14th century, creating an unusual symbiosis of present and distant past. The building consists of a four-storey front building and a three-storey rear building. Over the years, numerous changes of use and renovations have closed off the open space separating the two bodies. The architects have chosen to reopen this "well" and develop a complex of stairs and walkways in Padouk wood, allowing a vertical and horizontal connection between the floors of the two buildings.
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David Chipperfield completes the refurbishment of Berlin’s Neue Nationalgalerie
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It was perhaps inevitable that David Chipperfield would be the one who takes on the refurbishment of Mies van der Rohe’s Neue Nationalgalerie. The most “modern” of contemporary designers, who through his works has been reaffirming for decades the relevance of the architectural modernity's cultural project, has now the occasion to operate firsthand on a major realization by the 20th century master.
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New life for public baths in St Petersburg
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Megre Interiors renovated the “Lantern Baths”, built in 1870-1871 and dismantled during the Soviet period. The studio perfectly restored a portion of the spaces thanks to extensive historical research. In collaboration with restorer Rafael Dayanov, they gathered as much information as possible, using historical records, drawings, photographs and fragments of materials and architectural elements. They managed to reconstruct part of the original rooms. For the rest they had to rethink the spaces from scratch, trying to balance history and modernity.
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Valencia, a decorative legacy revives through contemporary simplicity
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Entrusted with the renovation of a residence by Javier Goerlich - a Spanish architect who designed over 600 buildings in Valencia in the first half of the 20th century, effectively shaping its face - Lola Bataller Alberola and Noelia Falcón Palau opted for a delicate balance between enhancing the original elements and updating the living functions according to contemporary sensibilities.
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The outdoor renovation of an old farm in Catalonia
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Architecture and landscape studio Scob completed a project for the outdoor areas of former farm buildings once belonged to the Escaladei monastery, in the small Catalan town of La Morera de Montsant. The complex currently houses Terra Dominicata hotel and winery, in a 135-hectare nature reserve characterised by the presence of vineyards.
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Tá Hotel de Diseño: hospitality in a rediscovered place
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In the historic centre of Querétaro, in a neo-colonial building dating back to the early 1900s and once owned by a philanthropist dedicated to promoting education, art and culture, anonimous and JAHS have carried out a renovation and expansion project with the intention of conveying the values of the owner through the conception of a space in which hospitality, gastronomy and art could coexist and become a common legacy for future generations.
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The new life of a Japanese bathhouse with an art gallery
In Kumamoto, on the island of Kyūshū, a public bathroom on the ground floor of a private residence has came to life. The owners, along with thousands of other people were displaced in 2016 when a strong earthquake shook the region, leaving the inhabitants without access to the sentō (public baths). wAtelier's design fits into the Japanese tradition of public baths and interprets it with minimal elegance.
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