Architecture | Interior Design | Furniture

This is white apartment located at first floor of great building raised in the last century in the central area of Timisoara, within an area of protected buildings. From the first design sketches we tried to get distance from the interventions that have become standard procedures in the local scene of designing within old buildings. [...]

SAKO Architects have challenged traditional Chinese architecture by constructing an energy-saving residential complex that is rotated by 45 degrees from the north-south axis for increased daylighting. Traditionally, residential buildings in China are oriented south and north, but the unique positioning of the BUMPS in Beijing project let is save a considerable amount of energy. The project features four residential building, each of which is 80 meters in height. Every two floors are set as a unit, and each unit is staggered 2 meters horizontally. The set-back areas can then be used as terraces.

Formerly, this mansion is a typical ‘mansion’ apartment on the outskirts of Tokyo before BAKOKO transformed it into their new clean and bright home. It is architects Alastair Townsend and Kayoko Ohtsuki, two graduates of London’s Architectural Association (the AA), and the founders of BAKOKO Design Company who had transformed this small 400 square feet mansion into a modern-minimalist flat with optimum use of the spaces. Long ago, ‘Man-shi-yon’ was a euphemism the Japanese used to describe the generic concrete apartment blocks. Now, the culture seems to be moving into more sustainable creativity with preferences for clean and modern living spaces.

They all chose for a classical-modern row of 12 houses with allure.The result is a row of houses of modern architecture that refers to the history by using classical elements. Examples of these are the vertical direction of the façade, the strict division of windows and the elevated ground floor: the bel etage. Very special is the black en red wall oil which is used to paint the bricklaying façade with. In the past this oil was used to make canal houses water resistant. The wall oil makes the project unique, never before this painting is used for housing project in The Netherlands.

The basic form is very abstract and the rough bricks and the windows are detailed behind the facade, therefore the building has a solid expression. The building has a friendly character because of the rounded edges and the random spread of the small and big window frames. The floor plans are kept entirely open. This way the future owners can decide on which side of the building they will live, eat and sleep.