Dornob | Design Ideas Daily

Ancient Catalonian Church Keeps Ruins + Gains New Soul

Posted: 31 Jul 2012 10:00 AM PDT

[ Filed under Conversions & in the Architecture category ]

Architects who are asked to restore old or damaged buildings typically decide to bring those buildings back to their former glory. But David Closes decided to take a different path when he was charged with converting the classic Sant Francesc church building into a cultural center and auditorium.

The church was built in the early 1700s and was once part of the Sant Francesc convent. After the convent was sacked in 1835, it was left to deteriorate on its own until 2000, when the rest of the buildings were torn down. Only the run-down church was left standing, and it was this fragile and partially collapsed building that Closes set about transforming.

Rather than bringing the building back to its former state or even simply restoring the shell and giving it a modern interior, Closes did something truly extraordinary. He plunked a new building down inside and outside of the church’s ruined shell. He used collapsed roof sections as skylights and kept some of the building’s original walls as beautiful components of a building that embraces both the past and the present.

One of the most compelling parts of the renovation/conversion is the exterior stairwell. The gorgeous floating glass stairwell was added outside of the boundaries of the original building to avoid having to alter the shape of the nave. Other components were added outside of the building in order to minimize the permanent impact to the shape of the structure while highlighting its new, modern purpose.

Keep Going - Check out this Great Related Dornob Article:

Countryside Church Building Converted into Luxury Home

Live, Work, Worship? Huge Converted Corner Church Home

[ Filed under Conversions & in the Architecture category ]

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Globus: World-Dominating Work Station for Evil Masterminds

Posted: 30 Jul 2012 04:00 PM PDT

[ Filed under Furniture & in the Desks category ]

It looks a bit like something out of an old mid-century James Bond movie – a white sphere that unfolds into an on-demand work station, perhaps manned by minions or even their overlord.

The Globus by Artfiort collapses into a minimalist ball on steel supports, then extends and flips to reveal a comfortably encompassing leather seat and work surface (as well as vertical or horizontal screen for looking and touching).

One could also imagine using it as a single-person gaming or television-viewing station, or something deployed in institutional (say, museum) spaces and cycling through educational programs. Really, with all the time we spend at computers, might as well have a custom-built way to spend it – perhaps the two support bars could be built into cement or otherwise-stable floors to save even more space.