Description by Innarch :

The idea / inspiration for the design derives from sack filled with coffee grains. The walls of the bar are organically shaped and colored like coffee sack made up of “Plywood” type of wood, whereby the pillars in between are coated with textile coffee sacks. Tables and hanging chandeliers represent the coffee grains lined up asymmetrically in order to generate the impression of being inside a coffee sack. The separating wall has a double function; decorative and functional. Its organic shape consists the most dominant part of the premise enabling a unique feeling of sitting unlike any other one comes across in everyday life. Each of the plywood element was designed individually. This because for the creation of an entire organic shape, each of the element needs to be designed separately.

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Description by Lippmann Partnership :

Lippmann Partnership was invited to submit a design to a property developer for his own house in Sydney’s eastern suburbs. The corner site faces due north and offers panoramic views over the city and harbour to the west. The client insisted that the house should have no straight lines due to his belief in Feng Shui principals – the Chinese study of space, the relationship of buildings to nature.

The stunning result is a sculptural curvaceous form of glass, aluminium, concrete and steel which has become a local Sydney landmark.

The 480 sq. metre house is organised over 6 split levels corresponding to a gentle fall across the site.

A basement garage and services level below ground level is topped by the two “butterfly wings” above.

Bedrooms are accommodated over 2 levels in the east facing wing enjoying ocean views and morning sunrise. Living areas also accommodated over 2 levels accommodate the west facing wing where sunsets over Sydney harbour and the city skyline form a stunning panorama.

The central staircase is part of the stack cooling natural ventilation system while high thermal mass allows the house to be low energy and green.

Description by Altius Architecture :

Efficient, clean design and simple, modern spaces went hand in hand with wheelchair accessibility for this modest, 2200 square foot house. This project was designed to be an accessible house that maintained the warm feel of a family home.

While planning for wheelchair access was a fundamental part of the design process, the creation of a comfortable family home was the ultimate goal. This house was to be equally appropriate for children as it would be for an occupant in a wheelchair. More than being simply accessible, it was intended to be an example of good, universal design and a model for the creation of living spaces that will function for generations.

The house is sited on an urban lot on Beech Avenue in Toronto’s Beach neighbourhood. The site slopes steeply upward from the street in front and is also accessed from a lane at the rear. The massing of the house is governed by views, the requirement to protect mature trees on the site, and solar orientation. Aligned East-West, the main volume pushes to the north side of the property to create a sunny courtyard-like outdoor space directly connected to the living and dining spaces. A glassy double height dining room suggests a transparent division between the public spaces at the front and the private spaces at the rear of the lot. A generous front porch extends the living spaces toward the street and connects the house to the eclectic fabric of the neighbourhood. The volumes of the house tuck into the existing canopy of trees, lessening the impact on the existing streetscape.

Vertically, the floor plates are organized around a stair and elevator configuration that has travel by both routes arrive at the same landings. While spatially efficient, the intent also was to never make the barrier free path of travel a secondary route. Two bedrooms face the rear yard while a bridge over the kitchen area extends to the master bedroom suite. High operable windows in the double height space, centered over the kitchen and dining areas, create natural stack-effect ventilation. Generous spaces and fluid circulation routes contribute to the flexibility and accessibility of the house.

Description by Giorgi Khmaladze :

The project is located in one of the newly urbanized parts of the seaside city of Batumi, Georgia. It includes fuels station, McDonald’s, recreational spaces and reflective pool.

Given the central location and therefore importance of the site, it was decided to give back as much area as possible for recreation to the city by limiting the footprint of the building and vehicular circulation. This resulted in one volume with all programs compressed within.

Spaces are composed in such way, that two major programs – vehicle services and dining are isolated from one another, both physically and visually so that all operations of fuel station are hidden from the view of the customers of the restaurant.

Because of the predefined, small building footprint, most of the supporting and utility spaces are grouped and located on the ground level to be close to all technical access points.

Public space of the restaurant starts from the lobby and its separate entrance on the ground floor . From where, as a way to naturally connect to the upper floor and to offer customers the experience of smooth transition between levels, the floor steps upwards and creates inhabitable decks on intermediate levels to be occupied as dining spaces.

Part of the dining space offers view towards outside water features, while the rest seamlessly transitions into open air patio on the upper level. The patio, enclosed from all sides to protect the space from outside noise, provides calm open air seating. The vegetation layer, which covers the cantilevered giant canopy of the fuel station adds natural environment and acts as a “ecological shield” for the terrace.

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Situated on an exclusive residential street, this home was designed for a family of four with the brief to achieve ideal spaces for work, rest and play. The internal planning required a clever balance to achieve a house of private spaces with maximised outlooks to the Surfers Paradise skyline.  Corten steel screens wrap the first floor bedrooms providing a veil for the bedroom spaces within.

The approach to the house, presents a structured and grounded design, balanced by the delicate screen pattern and soft landscaping. At night, the house transforms to a glowing lantern. Entry via the side arbour gradually opens upon a generous internal courtyard which looks through the main living area, framing the city skyline.

A major design feature was the inclusion of a luxury two storey space to the waterfront edge with custom double storey sliding doors. This enables views to be brought right into the heart of the house and across the internal courtyard to the street front rooms.

Each layer of glazing and the waterfront screens can be pulled back almost out of sight to allow the house to breath effortlessly all day long. Louvered glazing has been utilised throughout the home to promote cross ventilation via natural breezes.

Description by Juan Carlos Menacho Durán :

The sky is round and the earth is square. The supreme manifestation of the universal dialectic is the sky and earth, paired as a couple. In between both, lies man.

This house inspires security and balance through its square form. Immersed in a round base, it inspires creativity and harmony from the sky. These two shapes -sky and earth- are present in the Chinese coin.

The main shape of the Chinese Coin House relates to prosperity. On both its sides, the Milky Way was expressed, utilizing the concept that irradiates prosperity.

All the house’s measurements are based in the Golden Number (or Golden Ratio): number Phi (Fi) Phi: 1,618. This number is found in the geometrical distribution of patterns, such as sunflower seeds, a bee’s body, even in the human body. Ancient Egyptians used this concept to build the pyramids. Ancient Greeks used it to build the Parthenon. Leonard da Vince applied it to his masterpiece: the Mona Lisa. The Eiffel Tower was also built under this same principle.

Many of the ancient cultures that accumulated a profound wisdom applied to the functioning of nature, gave a transcendental importance to location and to the way houses were built. Throughout centuries, observing the interaction between house and man led to the wise conclusion that our inner coherence, physical and mental health and our abundance and happiness depended on how our houses were built. There are several schools of thought that have recovered and restructured this wisdom.

When building a house today, it’s no longer possible to ignore these factors. Some examples are determining a location site according to the earth’s electromagnetic lines irradiating low intensity gamma rays; distributing interior spaces in a house, considering location of the four cardinal points, or using the golden number or ratio phi to establish the proportions of longitude, depth and volume (this measurement is needed to recreate spaces, giving its inhabitants stability and harmony). The Chinese Coin house was conceived considering all these principals, providing characteristics of an immeasurable value for the wellbeing of the family and guaranteeing the house is constituted as a real energetic battery. Some of them are:

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Description by Atelier dnD :

To build a minimalist house with simple clean lines, uncluttered geometry, fluid, transparent spaces where the interiors and exteriors blend into each other in an attempt to keep the user constantly in touch with the outdoors.

The site with thriving greenery was located just outside Vadodara city. The brief was very clear – to design a contemporary house for this family of three and their support staff meeting their functional requirements. The challenge of the site really lay in preserving the natural vegetation that abounded on the plot. The planning went through several iterations in a bid to preserve as many of the trees on site as possible.

The main driveway leads to a white cantilever porch which defines the drop-off point for the house. The house itself is an extended spine from this point with various functions attached to it along its length.

Three outdoor verandahs serve as attached semi-open entities to functions like living and bedrooms. The outdoor pool and deck hugs the living spaces and master bedroom thereby bringing in the cool air during winters. This poolside space extends into a lawn making it ideal space for leisure. An external staircase leads one to terrace which features open Jacuzzi capturing the vast green forest around the site.

A glimpse of a fabulous addition at the very spur of moment might result in an extraordinary inclusion to the exterior giving it a sparkling look. Never consider exterior designing as an arduous task, use your imagination create a spurring idea and believe it or not your endeavor and faith in yourself will make you stand out of the crowd. Addition of more contemporary and simple accessories or products would ultimately increase the exquisiteness of the exterior, as the trend now a day is turning more towards simpler yet fabulous interface. Addition of aluminum plastic composite panel or a sandwich panel in the exterior of home can create an immaculate perfection with the greenish tinge of grass and vivid color of flowers can result in a sophisticated exterior with minimalistic hassles. Even though people who love this art as a profession or a hobby does not even bother about those pestering task as their urge would wipe them out as the passion grows.