Located in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, the Singel Apartment was renovated by the practice of Laura Alvarez Architecture.

The two floor apartment is in a building which is a national monument and the intention was to transform the space into one that is closer to modern standards while also preserve and put the ancient building into focus.

The first floor opens into a living area of 70 square meters and it incorporated different areas for various activities with a steel staircase leading to the kitchen and dining areas. There is a nut-wood sliding door in this area which allows you to separate the entrance hall and the living area.

The upper floor has the main bedroom and a guestroom with several satin-glass walls to allow a better illumination of the interior and also provide views toward the Amsterdam channels. Both of the spaces on this floor are designed as a single large room that can be divided if necessary and the bathroom lies in between them.

There are frameless doors which try to improve the way that space is perceived through sharp surfaces and the bamboo flooring on the second floor tries to add a warm ambiance in contrast to the gray epoxy floor of the first level.

[contemporist]

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Located in Tribeca, Lower Manhattan in New York this penthouse offers a stylish design with ten rooms spreading over a surface of 4300 square feet and an additional 3000 square feet private terrace which makes it ideal for large gatherings.

The penthouse is in the Fischer Mills Building which was built in 1860 making it a landmark of the Tribeca West Historic District and also offering access to the best restaurants, schools, shopping places and also to the recently renovated Hudson River Park.

The apartment itself features the finest finishes and boasts five bedrooms, an informal dining room, a master bedroom suite and a private elevator. The living room includes a fireplace with a marble mantle, the walls have walnut panels and there are Windowed French doors leading to the terrace which offers a direct view of the Hudson River. The terrace was landscaped with planters, irrigation systems, audio and illumination and a Viking grill.

The kitchen and bathrooms are all elegantly decorated with the finest materials and fully equipped with the latest technology, and although the apartment presents an elegant and classical design it also includes a high-tech RTI smart home system which integrates the audio, shading, illumination and the alarm system, thus offering you complete control at the push of a button.

[homedsgn]

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The Beijing National Stadium or the Bird’s Nest as it is also known was designed for the 2008 Summer Olympics and Paralympics by the architectural practice of Herzog & de Meuron in joint venture with ArupSport, China Architectural Design & Research Group and Ai Weiwei.

The entire cost for the project reached 423 million dollars and its design takes its inspiration from the Chinese ceramics with steel beams hiding the supports for the retractable roof which give the stadium the nest-like aspect. After a while the retractable roof has been removed but the aspect of the stadium was kept to give it an easily recognizable design.

There are two independent structures which define the stadium and they are 50 feet apart from one another: the seating bowl and the steel frame around it. The inner bowl is encased by 24 trussed columns each weighing 1000 tons. After the collapse of a roof at the Charles de Gaulle International Airport the designers decided to remove the retractable roof from the design, thus decreasing the costs and improving its safety.

After the Olympics the stadium had some trouble attracting sporting events and thus a shopping mall and hotel are planned to be constructed in its vicinity to increase its use. The stadium has a capacity of 80000 seats with 140 executive suites and it is planned to host the 2015 World Championships in Athletics.

[wikipedia]

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The award winning The Landings St. Lucia Hotel is located on the Rodney Bay beach offering a sight of the historic Pigeon Island and it features a luxurious and very modern design.

The project offers 122 villa suites with views of the beach and the harbor along with a restaurant and bar right on the beach, to enjoy a perfect view of the Caribbean sunset.

The hotel features entertainment programs and events for the guests such as Build your own pasta night on Wednesdays, or wine down Thursday to provide a diverse and joyful ambiance. The Palms restaurant also offers a lot of great dishes including a five course lobster taste menu each of them with wines from La Cantina.

The hotel features all the amenities of a five star hotel, like two floodlit tennis courts, a health club, the Soleil full service Spa, two restaurants and a full complement of water sports.

[adelto]

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The FINE Design Group office space in Portland, Oregon was wonderfully renovated by the practice of Boora Architects as an environment which reflects the energy and desire for collaboration that the agency has.

The space features an exposed steel structure with concrete floors and a lot of windows throughout to ensure a lot of natural light, making the end result seem more as a cozy loft than an office. The open space is designed as having specific areas with different functions, so we have a conference room and office space, the kitchen and the library.

The Barn is placed at the west side of the space with two offices and the conference room. This area has a complex shape to make it stand out from the other areas and it has magnetic and writable surfaces as walls to provide the optimal brainstorming place.

The kitchen is also the gathering spot for different events and it features a lot of shelves and a butcher block island for lunch breaks or quick snacks.

The bookcase also includes the print/copy zone and it also features a lounge area with optional curtains in case there is a need for extra visual privacy while working there.

[contemporist]

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Located in Playa Gaviotas, Canete, Peru, the Casa Spa offers a modern architecture with an open floor interior and great views toward the ocean.

Designed by the practice of Gomez de la Torre & Guerrero Arquitectos, the project uses diverse materials to provide flexible and comfortable spaces that make the transition from the interior to the open spaces quite natural.

The design of the house uses a simple geometry, being shaped as a rectangular box which features a large terrace and a suspended glass bedroom that is placed toward the rear garden and the ocean. There is a lot of glass used in the design to allow as much natural light inside as possible and offer a closer connection with the surroundings.

The interiors feature a large variety of colors in some areas while being monochrome in others to offer each space its own identity. The living area has a region near the kitchen where the ceiling is retractable and a water fountain and pool can be found under it to provide a small oasis right in the center of the house.

[freshome]

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This contemporary house is located in Johannesburg, South Africa and it was developed by a team at Summersun Property Group featuring all the comfort options one might want in their home and even more.

The luxurious home features five bedrooms, five bathrooms and a partial bath with a large living area ideal for parties. The design uses a lot of glass to permit the interior to communicate with its surroundings and also allow a lot of natural light inside making it warmer and cozier.

On one side the house is continued with a swimming pool after a terrace and the other side has a beautiful pond and garden to give it a serene ambiance. The interior features a lot of diversity with a modern design that combines various textures to create a rich and pleasant space.

The house also features a security system to increase the safety of the inhabitants; there is also a small home cinema and also an in-home fitness center offering something for everyone.

[freshome]

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The Nova Scotia Power Corporate Headquarters were designed by the practice of WMZH Architects and it is located in the city of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

The construction cost reached 46 million dollars and the project spreads over 5 acres at the south of the city on the waterfront. The site was initially occupied by a decommissioned power plant build with a concrete clad steel structure enclosing several high volume spaces which housed the equipment for generating electricity.

The project tried to retain and adapt the former generating plant so as to become the headquarters for the provincial electrical utility which is Nova Scotia Power Inc. The facility offers a parking for 150 vehicles and has a staff of over 500 persons.

There are three public entries and the interior presents exposed latticework and steel frameworks giving it an industrial ambiance with a design that tries to celebrate the original structure. The other levels are reached through a transparent stairway and bridges and the exterior has a new layer floating out from the original volume giving it a contemporary façade.

The building tries to promote environmental responsibility and its sustainability options received a LEED Platinum certification, making it the first building in Atlantic Canada to receive such an honor.

[adelto]

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The practice of Kunnapu & Padrik Architects designed in 2008 the Snailtower in the city of Tartu, Estonia and it consists of a block with flats, several offices and a four level horizontal parking house.

Spreading over 23 levels, the building has a ground plan that is designed as a spiral giving it a sculptural form that is the driving idea behind the entire project, the idea of a spiral being an omnipresent archetype throughout the ages and found in all geographical regions as representing the development of life.

The spiral theme spreads all the way to the top of the building and the horizontal parking supports the entire tower along with the cupolas, the globe and the protrusions of the Science Centre. The flats are placed around the central core with radial walls expanding to offer good views of the surroundings and they have a various number of rooms, ranging from two and up to four rooms with terraces.

The asymmetrical structure wishes to be reminiscent of childhood and offer an alternative vision, one which tries to reflect an optimistic and creative state of mind.

[archdaily]

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The new Swarovski stand was presented at the famous international trade show for watches and jewelry Baselworld 2013 in Switzerland and it featured a circular design which spread over more than 2000 square meters over two floors.

Placed inside the new hall for the fair, the stand was designed by the artist and designer Tokujin Yoshioka and it is completely surrounded by a curved wall of seven meters in height and with a circumference of 155 meters.

The wall surrounding the stand is made of no less than 253231 reflectors which have a mirrored surface representative for the Swarovski crystals. On the reflectors 22856 LEDs were placed giving the wall a brilliance and splendor which perfectly envisions the Swarovski brand.

There are jewelry and watch collections displayed inside the brightly illuminated stand and they are placed inside 40 freestanding showcases designed by Tokujin Yoshioka as well with a hexagonal shape of varying heights that is also inspired by the structure of the crystals.

[plusmood]

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