BUILDING DESIGN by dermot meaney

ARCHITECTURE of ITALY or ITALIAN ARCHITECTURE

The Renewed Alongside the Old(er) (because old is only a very relative thing in Italy)

On a recent trip to Italy I took in a ride through Tuscany where I came across this little village Piazza renovation, it had all the charm that I have heard so much about of Tuscany. The village was just on the edge of the region, Sienna  & Florence were yet to come. I had been to Florence previously but with not much time to spend sightseeing the Architecture & with two ladies who were in a shopping frenzy! During this trip I had time in Florence but only a wet evening in Sienna, alas I may have to arrange another trip to Tuscany before I die.

 
Four images highlighting a home on the edge of a renovated Piazza in the village overlooking the sun setting in Tuscany. Oh! La Bella Italia. Imagine the view from the windows at the back! The little skillion building attached to the 3 storey home is the entrance to another home just over the Piazza boundary wall.

 

ARCHITECTURE OF ITALY OR ITALIAN ARCHITECTURE

Beautiful Clean Contemporary Design - A Winery no less

 
But it was only coffee & a welcome rest after 3hrs of pedaling from Venezia (Venice) to the mountains beyond Spillimbergo.

The inside treatment for the bar & local produce display is an even more simple & beautiful realisation of light & space. 

 
All excellent quality craftsmanship & materials laid out in practical & humble lines to craft a gorgeous light filled bar/shop entry to the establishment. The restaurant is up at the end & to the left looking over the outdoor patio garden where we drank our cappuccino's.

This is the view that attracted us as we rode up the road. I was'nt going to go past this building without trying their coffee at the least, did not have the time to really try the other produce.

 

We went on our merry way with this as our vista for the next hour or so.

Architectural Visualization

Follow the link below of a conceptual visualization to a school building modeled by me & brought into 3d video form from 2d Autocad drawings created & designed by North East Architects.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZofXoSdC64

I don't  know if this was ever built but this form of conceptual visualization is a great tool for offering better understanding of buildings form & style. This particular video has not got any particular colours or material types assigned to the building envelope, it is very generic so it is important to view the video for what it is, a spatial awareness tool of the built form not the decor which may be the next step if that were part of the brief.

Further along here is a rendered image again modeled by me & I have assigned some colour & objects to give the image a little life, but again not especially what the client or the Architect may require. These can be "worked" into the model to suit developing palettes as well as setting the model on images of the location where the building will sit. Shadows can be set for any time of the day to evaluate heating & cooling requirements according to the sun angle throughout the year. This really is only a part of the process we need to go through to create modern buildings with the requirements imposed by today's energy conscious world during our short loan of the planet.

 

Interior Design

Architectural Renovations 3 (Interior Design)

COOL CHARM

Old homes are notoriously dark, & parts of this house are well set in that mold, but when the chance to renovate comes to hand I feel it is important to get good daylight into the rooms being altered if possible. This is the new dining room, extended by 8m2, not much by many standards but it has transformed the living area of this home a large amount. My design aim (when I am not being curtailed by clients briefs) is generally to achieve this goal as subtly & practical as possible. I feel that this state has been reached here whilst still maintaining the 1937 modest Art Deco/California Bungalow ambiance.

The original French entry doors behind the camera of this photo offers a long view through the dining room/living room leading out to the new patio through the new energy efficient comfort plus glazed bi-folding doors shown in this picture. The vista continues up through the landscaped & tiered  garden, which when the fully matured planting is in full bloom will be a joy to behold on those fine spring days.

Architecture, Renovating & Extending (2)

Dining Room East Elevation Daytime

To all intents & purposes this is the finished product for this view.

Door to the new extension, guest wing & velocipede stables

Again this is the finished Product here but there are a few minor construction components to tie in. The new laundry is to go in behind the horizontal steel cladding on the left of this picture but the cabinetry is a little bit late in coming so the existing laundry tub & wash mach is in its old location, hence the waste water pipe running out under the door to thedrain at the tap. The downpipe on the left is one of the rainwater collection points to the rainwater tanks which has a capicity totalling approximatly 10,000 lt. This is mainly for garden & veggie garden watering through the dry summers, although at the present time one would not believe we have a serious water problem.

And for further clarification the two photos connected

 

Architecture, Renovating & Extending

The new dining room extension to blend in with the small 1937 California Bungalow style.

The original view (below) to the dining room located behind the sliding doors on the right at the rear, This dining room door lead out onto a very small & mean rear yard.

The new back yard aka as outdoor entertainment/patio, viewed from a similar location on the garden.

Download 08 Baby, Don't Look Down

From one of the early concept models some of the ideas were retained.

Architectural Design

 

Here is one of a series of concept designs from the photo album down at the left hand side of this website titled Architectural Design. The star of course is "Shimano" the pooch waiting for his glamorous owners to take him for a walk, will it ever happen? Then the next stars are the beautiful Architectural Apartments over his left shoulder!!

You need to live here!! Here is the Google map link to the vacant site <http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Lot+1+Mill+Rd,+Bright,+Victoria,+Australia&mrt=loc&sll=-25.335448,135.745076&sspn=55.967795,78.75&ie=UTF8&z=16&iwloc=A>at Lot 1 Mill Road, Bright, Victoria, Australia 3741.

Architecture Albury - Colour

This is a concept for the colour scheme for a bathroom renovation. The colours do not reproduce very well in this photograph of the colour board. I will look into producing the same thing with photoshop. The drawings following are of the room that is being renovated.

Internal Elevations

Great Architecture

Well the last post in this Building Designers blog did tend to bag the Architectural profession but only a portion of it & a specific portion of it. Like all professions, we comprise of human beings, the good, the bad & the majority in between, some get eliminated over time (even the good ones get jaded & leave their calling) & some just seem to carry on forever. I came across the images of this building in Architecture Week, needless to say it enthralled me with its simplicity, purity & grace. Probably all the elements one would expect of a church. Feast your eyes if you love great buildings.

A Cathederal in San Francisco, nice!

   The Interior, Wow!! 

Building Design

Shop Design by dermot meaney BUILDING DESIGN

Shopfront for my concept chocolate shop/cafe.                                                                                     The two stars look like they have had a good time in there.