Striking columns of deep blue ceramic tiles coat the facade of the Hong Kong boutique store of Swiss luxury watchmaker and jeweller Piaget. Designed by Chinese architecture firm Neri&Hu, Piaget’s storefront was created to honour the brand’s dedication to craftsmanship as well as the historic wharf area of Kowloon. Two main elements of the facade make reference to Kowloon’s historical importance in trade and culture … Continue reading Swiss luxury in Kowloon
A lively lime green tops the new Monteparís Mayores residence in the Salvador neighbourhood of Madrid. Continue reading A Lid of Lime
Tricking the eye with an ultra-high gloss finish, this mirror-floored library creates a whole new experience of checking out books. Designed by X+Living, Dujiangyan Zhongshuge in Chengdu is a vision of infinite literature. Curved, towering, futuristic bookcases reach up and around, carrying their bounty and evolving from real books at eye-level to faux spines at the unreachable heights. A maze, a city, a jungle, an … Continue reading The House of Infinite Literature
The new headquarters for the Valencia Construction Sector Employment Foundation at L’Horta Vella Bétera Ind Est, Valencia, has secured first prize for MRM Architects’ Studio in the 20th edition of ASCER’s Tile of Spain Awards. The new FLCCV building is set in a rural, semi-industrial plot, surrounded by fields of olive and fruit trees, and is bounded to the north by the Carraixet ravine. In … Continue reading FLCCV’s new HQ wins Spanish tile prize
The bubble windows of the Guardian Art Center in Beijing create the first in a series of striking impressions curated by the building’s architect Ole Scheeren. These large-scale pixels make up an abstracted interpretation of the artwork Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains, signalling the significance and essence of the space. Designed as a cultural centre, the Guardian Art Center is an multifacted hybrid, home to … Continue reading Mountains on the Walls
We’ve taken a look at various surfaces made from unusual materials – notably tiles from salt created by Chilean architect Mále Uribe Forés, sunflower surfaces from Thomas Vailly, and algae infused tiles from the Bio-Integrated Design Lab – and today we’re sharing something that utilises all three – Frank Gehry’s tower for the Luma Foundation in Arles. The project’s innovative material use is designed to … Continue reading Sunflowers, Salt, and Seaweed
Around our local region (Kent and Sussex) we’re lucky enough to be near the majority of one of England’s more unusual historical building designs – Oast houses. Despite being around since the 1500s, the majority were built in the mid 1800s for the very specific purpose of drying hops before being sent to the brewers. Nowadays they mostly function as beautiful homes, with the pointed … Continue reading Beauty at Bumpers Oast
Architect Timothy Robinson offers a triumph of terrazzo at his new studio and workshop that has the perfect balance of tranquility and stylistic panache – enough to make any working-from-homer a little jealous. The vibrant greens and layered lines of the lush tropical planting, mixed with the bold green terrazzo cladding distracts the eye just enough that the beige brick building behind the studio fades … Continue reading Terrazzo Cladding
An exciting new type of building has been created in Ravenna, Italy. Remiscent of and utilising a similar ethos to earthbag homes, the TECLA house is a beautiful dome built from raw earth. The brains behind the project are Mario Cucinella Architects and Massimo Moretti (founder of 3D printing specialists WASP). Being fully 3D printed and constructed from the plentiful ground it sits on, the … Continue reading 3D Printing in Raw Earth
Tile of Spain have announced the winners of The Tile of Spain awards, a competition designed to promote and celebrate the creative use of Spanish ceramics in interior design and architecture. This year in its 19th edition, ASCER has awarded 39,000 Euros in cash prizes to winners throughout the categories. First prize in the Interior Design category is for the Atlantis Gastrobar in Barcelona by … Continue reading Tile of Spain Awards 2020
We’ve covered some of the colourful work of Adam Nathaniel Furman (notably his gateway at Design Junction and his Chelsea and Westminster Hospital designs) and now it’s his vision for town halls that we need to share. With his incredible understanding of colour and its transformative properties to imagine town halls of the future, awash with shades and styles that reflect the mixture of people … Continue reading Colouring Collaboration
When looking to compile a list of our favourite façades we noticed a very clear front runner in the race for beguiling buildings – architecture firm MVRDV. Undeniable style, elegance, creativity, and flair are found amongst many of their projects, and three have been chosen for our selection of Five Fascinating Façades. 1. BVLGARI in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia A wonderful work of kuntisugi style where … Continue reading Five Fascinating Façades
The monumental mosaic of the Galleria department store in Gwanggyo bursts at the seams to reveal bubbling geometric glass shapes offering a peek inside. It’s a step out of the ordinary for the planned city with architecture firm OMA taking a standard square and ensuring the exterior is what sets it apart. Large towering residential blocks in shades of grey and beige stand tall over … Continue reading Gorgeous Gwanggyo Galleria
Tile Addict loves ceramics with a bit of whimsy. The nature of tile formats means they can be used playfully in a range of tech-inspired ways, for example, Invader‘s pixelated video game tags. In a similar vein, on a much larger scale, this apartment block in South Korea has brought Minecraft to life. In Seoul’s Mangwon-dong area, the Cascade House now stands out amongst its … Continue reading Pixelated Apartments
A restoration project in Shrewsbury Cathedral has led to a stunning discovery. Whilst attempting to ensure the building is returned to its former beauty, over thirty years of dust and grime were removed from the floor to expose a stunning mosaic that has been hiding away since the 80s. The intricate work is a gothic masterpiece from renowned architect Edward Welby Pugin and had been … Continue reading Back in Tile
Green and red triangular tiles signify the separation of spaces in this Barcelona apartment. Carrer Avinyó in the Gothic Quarter is a strikingly angular building, with a tight corner protruding out and enabling public walkways on either side. When it was refurbished in 2012, with the help of David Kohn, the plan was to take advantage of this premade quirk and reflect it within the … Continue reading Dividing Spaces
Hemp is fast being recognised as one of the most important crops to tackle climate change due to its prolific growing potential, carbon-sequestering nature, and its capacity to be used in almost any industry. Its ability to sequester carbon begins from the moment it is seeded, with one ton of harvested hemp fiber sequestering approximately 1.62 tons of CO². In the building world hemp’s popularity … Continue reading Hemp House
A touch of whimsy and nostalgia has been added to the Lego carpark in Billund, Denmark. The carpark that will be used for both Legoland visitors and those working in the offices was designed by Ravn Arkitektur, whilst the delightful facades are the work of CEBRA, a Danish architecture studio. The exteriors take their inspiration from Lego’s City road plates, a child-friendly design first created … Continue reading Lego in Life
Ceramics have been used to blend the old with the new in Yangqing, China. Settled amongst the traditional homes the Intertwine House takes the form of its neighbouring properties, matching them in pitch and size, but offering a bold, modern style. The Architects responsible for the design, Wonder Architects, are relatively new on the scene, being formed in 2017 by Zhu Qipeng, Wang Chong, and … Continue reading Clad Green in China
Nothing makes a statement quite like an uninterrupted expanse of pink and nothing creates an imposing industrial impression like coarse colourless concrete. Forgoing all convention, greatly honoured and notable architect Sir David Adjaye has combined these two defining features to create an incredible signature. A similar effect was previously achieved at the Ruby City art museum in San Antonio, Texas which took pre-cast red-tinged concrete … Continue reading Pink Concrete
