Seoul-based architectural practice, Moon Hoon, have designed the Rock It Suda project. The bizarre and crazy property belongs to a guitarist and can be found in Jeongseon, Gangwon Do, South Korea.

According to the architects: “Rock It Suda is a name for the pension and it’s concept. The client is a base guitarist, a member of the amateur rock group named Rock It Suda. On regular basis, they perform live, at the pension.

“The site has a dry river, and an open view in front, and the other sides are, surrounded by the mountain range. The six ways of capturing the beautiful scenery gave birth to spatial contraction, expansion, and compression, then themes such as Spain, Barbie, Stealth+Ferrari, cave, and Korean traditional house were added.

“Play architecture is born, when giant soft hammock, shaped like tails are attached to hard secured architecture. It is hoped that, the wind, and movement made by people playing in the hammock, expresses the desire that architecture is not secure and unmoving.

“Architecture is alive!: moving beyond it’s limits…also, living in the realm of imaginations.

“Pensioning, as it’s referred to in Korea, is a term one used in this country only to describe a foreign activity. In continental Europe, a pension (pronounced ‘paan-shi-on’) is a boarding house or small hotel. Its Korean counterpart emerged as a new breed of accommodation earlier this decade. With the gradual embrace of enthusiasm for leisure and recreation, people started flocking to the suburbs to spend their nights relaxing, barbecuing and enjoying themselves. For city dwellers, in particular, the experience proved to be a liberating though temporary break from the daily grind and suffocating high-rise apartment buildings. Associated with exotic weekend getaways, Korea’s new pensions are built to resemble wood-framed, European, countryside cottages or theme park chalets. A small number of pension designs represent high-end luxury and architectural sophistication. Altogether, pensions are fantasy spaces, exaggerated yet accepted.”

Images courtesy of Moon Hoon

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London-based interior designer, Shaun Clarkson, has designed the Fourth Floor Cafe and Bar for luxury department store Harvey Nichols. The new restaurant design can be found at the Leeds department store in England.

The new restaurant comes with its spectacular views over the city’s rooftops, the Café and Bar has been given a stylish transformation to reflect the fashions in the floors below.

World-famous interior designer Shaun Clarkson, who has previously worked on the Perrier Jouët Champagne Bar at Harvey Nichols, Knightsbridge and the OXO Bar, as well as Pitt Cue Co and the Hoxton Hotel in London, has brought his sophisticated vision to the space.

The design is opulent and striking, fusing contemporary with classic, taking customers from day to night in a sweep of luxury. Stunning brass finishes, metallic shades and columns clad in bronze mirror all add to the room’s allure.

On entry, the reception desk with its faceted polished brass finish delivers a statement of bold modernity. The walls display hexagonal mirrors with fabric centres in luxurious shimmering cream and gold, complementing the gold grand chandelier lighting, whilst a central fretwork screen artistically divides the space.

Modern black and white seating, pops of brilliant colour from the deep teal leather chair seats and tiles on the open kitchen and a wall of windows providing a striking city vista all contribute to the Café’s sophisticated setting.

The Bar, with its comfortable circular banquettes, gold dome lights and high gloss tables is a glamorous spot for an aperitif or to settle down for the evening.

Fourth Floor Café, Harvey Nichols, 107-111 Briggate, Leeds, LS1 6AZ, England, harveynichols.com/restaurants

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This month we catchup with Stefan Antoni Olmesdahl Truen Architects or SAOTA for short, an award-winning architectural practice based in South Africa.

Adelto’s Assif Majid caught up with the three partners (Stefan Antoni, Philip Olmesdahl and Greg Truen) to discuss trends, design and a lot more.

The firm, which employs around 90 people have offices in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban.  The architectural practice is driven by the dynamic combination of of three partners who share a potent vision easily distinguished in their buildings and an innovative and dedicated approach to the execution of projects internationally, nationally and locally.

SAOTA has earned a reputation for achieving maximum value for developments, and this is evidenced by invitations to become involved in the design of some of the most prestigious developments in the country. Adelto are big fans of their work and here is what they had to say to us:

Where were you born and where did you grow up?  

Stefan in Cape Town, Philip in Durban KZN and Greg grew up in Swaziland and then North Coast of KwaZulu-Natal

Can you explain to Adelto readers what each of you does? 

We are all Architects; we split the projects up between ourselves and are  all involved in design. Philip and Greg oversee the two main teams consisting of project leaders and teams that see projects through from inception to completion.

What triggered your interest in architecture/design?

In Stefan’s case a trip to Poland when still very young and a magical encounter in a huge cathedral under construction. For Philip and Greg, Durban was a very active and energized design centre – many of their friends have become well known fashion and Interior designers as well as editors and movie makers.

How long have you been professional architects?

Stefan 27 years, Philip 20 years and Greg 22 years.

How would you describe your firm’s designs?

Contemporary, contextual, sensitive, poetic and especially highly livable.

What was the company’s first design project? Can you tell us a little about it? 

A bar called the Fireman’s arms. We used steel painted red and black, gently inserted it up against an existing historical building. It was an overnight success.

What do you think is the most unique thing in your portfolio?

There are a number of exciting pavilion buildings inspired by trees, Zilwa by the Banyan trees, Sushi, Popenguine and Sinndia by Baobabs. Also a few very sculptural villas in Switzerland.

What does the word luxury mean to you?

Space, authenticity, comfort, quality, efficiency and delight.

Where did you buy/rent your first property and what was it like?

Stefan: An Apartment in Sea Point above the main road – action packed at night, drag racing, gun shots and prostitutes but great fun…it was also the first office for a year and a half.

What designers, artists and creative’s inspire you?

There are so many brilliant designers today. Jean Nouvel might just edge them all for always coming up with great new ideas.

Are there any projects that you enjoy tackling most? 

Exciting briefs, passionate clients and challenging sites normally lead to the best results.

How do you balance more traditional and modern elements in your design?

We strive to create timeless works- not too extreme and over gimmicky. There are so many clues in traditional work and materials.

Whose home would you most love to decorate/design? And why?  

Stefan: Maybe Lady Gaga…..she is wild and yet deep…an interesting combination.

What trends in 2013 should Adelto readers look out for?

A return to a more raw and authentic work. Simple and powerful spaces.

In your opining what makes a great design? 

Great space, simplicity and the least fuss to make a great and powerful statement even if it is an understated one.

What would be your advice to budding designers/architects?

Never lose the passion- it might not always be greatly financially rewarding but it is a field that does have soul.

What is Cape Town’s best kept secret?

There are so many in Cape Town – I suppose all the beautiful walks in nature- the mountains, the vineyards and the beaches.

Stefan Antoni Olmesdahl Truen Architects, 109 Hatfield Street Gardens, Cape Town, South Africa, 8001, saota.com

Images courtesy of the architects

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Argentinian architectural practice Fritz + Fritz Arquitectos and Analia Messina have designed the House M project. Completed in 2011, the beautiful property can be found in Lujan, a province of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

According to the architects: “House M is located in Lujan. It is a single-family house project which was designed from its orientation and environmental characteristics.

“The house relates with the environment by its transparency and also introducing three patios, that divide the different areas of the house, mostly solved on the ground floor.

“The ground floor is connected to the master bedroom by a contemporary stair.

“On the south face of the house, the main access and all the services were located in order to generate a total permeability to the north side and the environment.

“The use of materials such as concrete, glass and wood where used to achieve architectural synthesis.”

Adelto loves the interior design of this luxury home – simple and elegant

Images courtesy of Quiroga Carrafa

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International architectural practice, Foster+Partners, have designed the Lenbachhaus Museum project. Completed in 2013, the museum can be found in Germany. 

The Museum’s historic buildings have been carefully restored and the exhibition spaces augmented by a spectacular new wing, which provides an ideal environment for viewing the magnificent ‘Blue Rider’ collection. As well as radically improving the buildings’ environmental performance, the remodelling has created a new entrance and social spaces, including a restaurant, terrace, education facilities and a dramatic full-height atrium, where the old is articulated within the new.

Inside the new building, a sequence of intimate galleries display the Museum’s internationallyrenowned ‘Blue Rider’ collection of early twentieth-century Expressionist paintings, echoing the domestic scale of their original setting in the villa Lenbach. As many of the works of art were painted in ‘plein-air’, indirect natural light has been deliberately drawn into the upper level galleries to create the optimum environment for their display.

A new entrance has been created adjacent to the restaurant, accessed via a new landscaped piazza to the east of the museum – this move reclaims the courtyard garden, turning it from a pedestrian thoroughfare into a tranquil space for visitors. The restaurant is open outside of the Museum’s opening hours and its seating continues outside, helping to enliven the surrounding streets and attracting new visitors into the galleries.

The new social heart of the building is a dramatic top-lit atrium, with ticket and information desks, access to a new temporary exhibition space on the ground floor and a grand, cantilevered stair to the upper level galleries. Clearly articulating the old within the new, its impressive volume incorporates the ochre exterior wall of the original villa and is scaled to accommodate large-scale works of art. The Museum commissioned the artist Olafur Eliasson for a site specific work titled Wirbelwerk. During the day sunlight washes the white walls via a long, slender opening at roof level and horizontal louvres cast changing patterns of light and shade within the space.

As well as repairing the fabric of the existing buildings, one of the main aims of the project has been to radically improve the museum’s environmental performance. A water-based heating and cooling system within the floors has been implemented – using significantly less energy than an air based heating, this represents an innovative step in a gallery context. Rainwater is also collected and recycled and lighting has been replaced and upgraded with low-energy systems.

Images courtesy of Nigel Young

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