Call of wandering

Janek Sedlar is a young self-taught photographer from the Czech Republic whose speciality is landscape photography with a surreal twist. He became a “serious” photographer only in 2011, and most of his captivating images were captured in his home region of Moravia and around the White Carpathians nature reserve.

“Inspiration I find in daily life, in NATURE, in my feelings and thoughts,” said for an interview with Interesting Photographers. “Being in these woods and meadows is a return to childhood, it regains my life energy and I am trying to share these moments with my camera, the process itself is like a meditation for me.”

 The path

 Shaman’s road on the other side

Place for dreaming 

 Mesmerizing poetry of autumn

 Forest conjuration

Hidden beneath the leaves

 Kingdom of silence

 Lane of elders

 Forest cathedral

 Feel of amber happiness

 Dream inside a dream

 Carpathian kingdom

 Carpathian dreaming

 Be on the road with warmly thoughts

 Awaken soul

 Angels alongside our path

 Autumn prayers

Autumnal ambient from within

Fog in the red forest

Thatching covers the walls as well as the roof at this house in Zoetermeer, the Netherlands, by Dutch architect Arjen Reas


Located on the edge of the city, the building was designed as a cross between a contemporary house and a traditional Dutch farmhouse. "We wanted to capture this rural and urban living in one design," said Arjen Reas.


The thatched cladding begins just above ground level and wraps up over all four sides of the two-storey gabled structure, interrupted only by projecting canopies, windows and a chimney.


"We used the thatch like a warm hat and pulled it down over the edges," explained Reas. "The benefit of this is that the thatch becomes touchable. Also when looking through the windows, it surrounds you."


Tall narrow windows create vertical slices into the roof and walls on the two side elevations. Meanwhile, glazed doors fold open from the rear elevation to connect the living room with a terrace and garden.


"One of the priorities while designing this house was to provide the residents with a magnificent view of the scenic landscape," adds the architect.


A rectangular volume projects forward of the front elevation to create a two-storey-high sheltered porch, while a ramped driveway slopes down to meet a parking garage in the basement.


Storage areas are also located on the lowest floor, while living and dining rooms occupy the ground floor and the first floor contains four bedrooms and a bathroom beneath its sloping ceilings.


Thatched roofs have cropped on a few recent architecture projects in the Netherlands. Amsterdam studio Inbo has completed a town hall with thatching covering five curved blocks, while Rotterdam studio Maxwan has renovated and extended a thatched cottage.


Photography is by Kees Hageman.




Here's some more information from Arjen Reas:

This project is a private assignment for an entrepreneur from the city centre, and the question was posed, how could the family find peace on the edge of that same city. The site located where the city and open planes meet, and therefore has an obvious recognition that cannot be ignored.

Above: basement floor plan

In the earlier times people here used to work with shapes for houses that were pure and plain, thatch was used as a cover for the roofs and the walls where made out of stones and a clay plaster.

Above: ground floor plan

We were challenged to fuse together traditional ideals with a contemporary house design, a cubistic shape placed in a desolate landscape, where all urban feeling is gone when you look at the surroundings. Contemporary rural living was chosen as a project to mix the two in pure form.

Above: first floor plan

New Dutch Design

 When working with pure forms it's also important to look at simplicity, durability and expression. The mix of two very different but recognizable materials in the Dutch landscape results in a both a modern and traditional structure. The fine texture of the thatch in combination with the smooth white plaster surfaces a house is formed that is very modern and traditional at the same time. The compactness of the thatch gives optimal protection against the elements.

Above: section one

The interior successfully combines natural materials creating something unique. By designing a natural interior certain tranquility arises throughout each room and now there is also room left for the residents to restyle their space continuously.

 One of the priorities while designing this house was to provide the residents with a magnificent view of the scenic landscape. This was successfully done within each room in the house. Daylight falls deep into the house and lights up the space within and gives it a dynamic character during the day, while by night the house radiates its light to its surroundings and thereby marking its position in the landscape.
Above: section two

Layout

 Via the slope residents can park their car in the basement, where there are also two extra storage rooms and an entrance to go up by stairs and enter the main living space with a beautiful open kitchen where all the modern comforts are integrated in. When walking through this open space towards the large transparent slide doors, you immediately get pulled to go into the garden. Here you can sit and relax or walk on the plateau to oversee the whole landscape.
Above: west elevation

The main entrance is surprisingly spacious and with its transparent separation with the kitchen a lot of light is coming in. Here you can enter the scullery, toilet, wardrobe or walk straight up the stairs to the second level. On this level you can go to the main bedroom, the second bathroom and three other bedrooms.

 In the master bedroom the residents can choose to go and have a spacious shower or to go and take a bath before or after going to bed. When sitting in bath or lying in bed, you still have a great open view at the landscape.
Above: east elevation

Designer: Arjen Reas
Location: Zoetermeer, The Netherlands
Project area: 744 m2
Floor area: ca 360m2
Project year: 2009-2010
Construction: Adviesbureau Docter
Contractor: C.L. de Boer & Zn BV
Thatch: Voogt Rietdekkers


Architecture graduate Stephan Sobl has designed an upside-down skyscraper to hang over the Colorado River in Nevada, right beside the Hoover Dam.


Entitled Vertical Strip, the conceptual tower would provide a casino, a hotel, a boxing ring and a concert hall, like the nearby Las Vegas Strip.


The lightweight carbon-fibre structure would be suspended from a concrete cantilever and supported by a spiralling metal shell.


Located between the dam and the bypass bridge, the tower would be accessible to both cars and pedestrians from the adjoining road.


Sobl developed the project whilst studying at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna.

The following information is provided by the designer.

 Vertical Strip – A Hanging Tower

 My Diploma is about the interplay of opaque massive surfaces capable of incorporating poché and lightweight, fragile structure.



The resulting environments developed by these distinct architectural languages are exploited and distributed vertically to create extreme spatial sequences



The project is a casino resort, a satellite alternative to Las Vegas, located on a dramatic site between the Hoover Dam and the Bypass Bridge. The resort caters to various 21st century vices including entertainment (concert venues, MMA Fighting), gambling and luxury living. The architectural challenges I dealt with were taking the convential vertical tower, including its plynth and orientation, and turning it upside down.


Architectural elements: The massing layout is construed by the event space on top with a framed view of the Hoover Dam; the casino underneath leading to the hotel lobby and the hotel itself. At the bottom of the tower there is a dramatic area for happenings and ceremonial occasions. It also includes a breakfast room and high end dining with the elevator core floating above the space; a glass floor providing views to the ground; and terraced floor slabs.


In terms of circulation, there are several ways leading into the plynth of the tower, including car circulation; and viewing platforms. The bridge circulation focuses on 3 elements:

structural details of the Bypass Bridge
openings to the Hoover Dam
breathtaking diagonal views of the hanging tower with a constant interplay of plunging and emerging.


Once you arrive at the entrance of the tower, you enter the hanging structure through the supportive strings leading you down through the casino into the hotel lobby.


The structural system is divided into 3 tectonics: - a massive concrete structure building the cantelivar for the hanging tower - a lightweight hanging tower - a metal shell embracing the structure.

The way I generated the tower is with a partical simulation based on gravity. In order to achieve structural logic the stings are rotated clockwise and counter clockwise.



The metal shell provides shading and natural wind cicrulation for the tower of which its panels are orientating themselves according to changing wind conditions.






Buildings by SANAA, Herzog & de Meuron, MAD and more appear to pulsate, spin, dance and grow in this series of animated gifs by French architect Axel de Stampa.

Vitrahaus by Herzog & de Meuron - original photograph by Tom Arban

In the Architecture Animée series, Herzog & de Meuron's VitraHaus triples in height, while one of MAD's curvaceous Absolute Towers begins to twist, and the new Emerson College by Morphosis is given a throbbing heart.
Absolute Towers by MAD - original photograph by Tom Arban

 "Architecture Animée looks into the concept of motion in architecture," said De Stampa. "By using gif format, buildings come alive and reveal their true natures."
New Museum by SANAA - original photograph by James Ewing

Other buildings to feature in the series include SANAA's Zollverein School in Germany and New Museum in New York, as well as the America's Cup Building in Spain by David Chipperfield and Theatre Agora in the Netherlands by UNStudio.

Americas Cup Building by David Chipperfield

For each image, the architect aims to use animation to reveal something new or unnoticed about a familiar building.

Memory Museum by Estudio America - original photograph by Nicolas Saieh

"Motion in architecture is mainly associated to the fourth dimension: time," explained De Stampa. "Time, through the body, experiences the building."

"In Architecture Animée, I have developed a different approach. While the visitor doesn't move, the building offers different perceptions, comes alive and reveals additional evidence," he said.

Theatre Agora by UNStudio - original photograph by Christian Richters

De Stampa created his first gifs as part of 1week1project – an initiative with fellow Ecole d'Architecture de Paris-Belleville graduate Sylvain Macaux to produce 52 spontaneous architecture projects over the space of a year.

Emerson College Los Angeles by Morphosis - original photograph by Iwan Baan

"I wanted to go further," said De Stampa. "Then a couple of months ago I saw images of the Emerson College by Morphosis. The contrast between the big frame and the smooth elements in the centre was great. I wanted to see it moving, so it all began there," he said.

Mirador Building by MVRDV and Blanca Lleo - original photograph by Luis Garcia

The architect next plans to animate the Balancing Barn by MVRDV, Steven Holl's Linked Hybrid and the Casa da Música by OMA.

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