The project involved combining two penthouse apartments, their respective car parking, rooftops and exterior spaces to create a singular inter-generational family home with an abundance of flexible living and working spaces, a basement rehabilitation spa and two rooftop sukkah pavilions.
The first in a series of key concepts is the ‘library spine’ running the entire length of the apartment housing the families collection of books, art and artefacts. The library spine is also used to celebrate the entrance lobby and define both the horizontal circulation and the vertical circulation as the joinery is embedded into the staircase.
The second key concept is a series of ‘magic box’ kitchens that are highly functional yet minimal volumes, that open and close and delineate the different zones of the apartment. They are defined by their abstract colours that sit in contrast to an otherwise warm and natural material palette. The use of coloured objects is repeated in the bathroom stonework, fireplaces and bespoke furniture pieces.
The third intervention is a series of semi-circular oculus skylights,  which celebrate the two main living spaces and reference the clients passion for the local Art Deco architecture of the neighbourhood. This pure geometry furthers the abstract composition given by the coloured volumes. The theme is also referenced throughout the apartment with smaller semi circular and circular oculus’s where natural light was needed..
To the east of the apartment are the main active social areas including the main kitchen living and dining, whilst the west of the apartment is less formal and conducive to relaxing with an interior/exterior lounge coined the ‘Evening Garden’.  The apartment is also loosely defined by generational lines with the Western end providing privacy between the younger members of the family and the more senior. Lastly the apartment is also future proofed to allows for splitting in two later down the track if required.
Downstairs the spa utilises what was a basement car park, to create a private wellness space including a fitness pool, sauna, kitchenette, change rooms and a flexible rehabilitation area. Although a subterranean space with no natural light, the careful use of atmospheric indirect lighting, warm colours and natural materials provides a holistic restorative experience in likening to a Finnish sauna or Japanese onsen.
On the rooftop, two ‘sukkah’ pavilions provide semi-enclosed cooking, dinning and gathering areas during the festival of Sukkot, and double up as general outdoor living spaces for use year round. The minimal structures are highly operable with shade walls and bamboo canopies. The pavilions are set within an expansive outdoor area with curvilinear planters lining the perimeter and foliage that provides a sense of privacy and respite from the wind whilst also allowing views out.
Photography by Rory Gardiner
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Elsternwick Penthouse

Residential

Glassworks is a new eyewear and vision centre based in the heart of Tel Aviv and sited in one of the city’s famed UNESCO-listed ‘White City’ buildings. At home amongst the city’s bustling bars, restaurants and plazas, the intervention pays homage to the building’s context and heritage, whilst providing an experience that celebrates both eyewear and eye care.
Sensitive to the building’s intrinsic values, the restoration maintains the existing grand proportions: high-ceilings, open plan layout and large windows to ensure an abundance of natural light and to create an inviting space to gather and relax in. This kind of interior plaza serves as an extension of Tel Aviv’s pedestrian, outdoor, Mediterranean culture a concept enhance through the use of durable, exterior materials and the focal point- the coffee bar.
The ‘Library’ houses Glassworks’ eyewear collection, highlighting the details of every frame and showcasing each brand respectfully with a gallery-style approach and museum grade lighting. The white steel colonnade delineates the functional areas and references the modernist International Style of the region, whilst the use of natural stone and pigmented plaster draws from the traditional old stone hues of ancient Jaffa and Hebron.
The optometry examination rooms are a celebrated part of the building’s spatial hierarchy, designed to ensure a pleasurable, relaxing atmosphere throughout the customer journey. The equipment is arranged sequentially and ergonomically and high ceilings and natural light create a non-clinical, restorative experience – something more akin to a spa treatment than a typical eye exam.
As well as a second optometry space the lower level houses Glassworks’ lens cutting laboratory and offices, both key parts of the fulfilment process. Windows allow customers to see the inner workings of the laboratory whilst also allowing laboratory staff views out, ensuring a quality working environment.
The project also included designing, and in some cases fabricating in-house, several objects to improve the functionality of the store at a micro scale. Bespoke objects included timber glasses trays,  hand-cast plinths as well as customised hand basins and coffee cups.
Alex Nicholls continues to work hand-in-hand with Glassworks as Creative Director, ensuring cohesion between the architecture and all design touch points, including the brand identity, gold leaf signage, linen packaging, website, social media and the linen staff uniforms made in collaboration with London-Helsinki work-wear label Vyner Articles.

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Glassworks

Retail

The extension to the National Museum of Finland consists in a new entrance building within the parkland and extensive new subterranean galleries and workshops as well as a new underground link to the historic edifice via one the existing atriums.
The new entrance building is conceived as a minimal glazed pavilion that maximises transparency and permeability within the existing gardens with sensitivity to the historic museum designed by Herman Gesellius, Armas Lindgren and Eliel Saarinen. The pavilion follows the length of the existing stone wall and the orthogonal grid of the historic edifice. Sensitive to the existing trees, the siting of the pavilion allows the preservation of the row of Plane trees whilst allowing open parkland for events and outdoor exhibition.
The pavilion houses the new entrance lobby, gift shop, cafe and restaurant. It is characterised by three solid volumes which support the cantilevered roof as well as creating light wells and vertical circulation to the subterranean spaces below. Semi-circular openings derived from the existing buildings language are centred on each of the volumes to increase natural light into the voids, enhance their sculptural composition and also permit views from above to the exhibition spaces below and vice versa.
Excavated in the bedrock are the new exhibition spaces, preservation workshops, administration spaces and the connecting lobby with the existing building. The concentrated natural lighting enhances the atmospheric nature of the subterranean space, which contrasts to the glazed light and open spaces above.
A sunken lobby connects the new pavilion and gallery spaces with the historic edifice via one of the existing courtyards. Here a four columned structure and raised glazed trapezoid encloses the courtyard whilst also ensuring an abundance of natural light into the lobby below. The scale and axis of the enclosure corresponds with the voids of the new pavilion creating a strong dialogue between the two.
Pigmented green concrete is used throughout the new intervention, the colour of which is taken from the original watercolour drawings for the historic building, the frescoes of its interiors and more obviously from the parkland itself. This tonal atmosphere is continued in the faceted oxidized copper roof which allows the building to be somewhat camouflaged in the park.
In collaboration with Taneli Mansikkamäki Architects.
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