We really fancy seeing how day by day the bioclimatic architecture is more and more within reach of everybody. We show you a project by Yonoh Estudio Creativo that we really like since it uses traditional ideas in order to supply any part of the house with  energy.

RIVER is a house over the river that generates its own energy by means of a mill or a waterwheel. Moreover this item becomes a decorative point and it works as a room divisor inside the house, a moving spectacle.

Projects like this, after having won the Prize Porcelanosa Interorismo 2010 encourage us to look towards the future and be aware of the fact that ecologic houses are a reality and that the most current technology isn´t needed to create future houses.

An interesting initiative is the competition Solar Decathlon Europe 2010 for universities organized by the U.S. Department of Energy. It promotes the design as well as the building of self-sufficient houses working on solar energy… We are on the way!

You will get to know more on Solar Decathlon and ecologic houses through this video:

We would like you to tell us your favourite projects on ecologic houses.

House in Corrubedo

David Chipperfield, one of the most prestigious British architects, presents his touring exhibition “Form Matters” of the Design Museum in London for the first time in Spain.

Our chief designer, Arturo Álvarez, was pleasantly impressed that Chipperfield took a fancy to such a small and singular village full of charm in the coast of Galicia, a place where the prestigious architect decided to build his summer residence.

The peace and the calm which sweeps over Corrubedo, together with the special magic exuded could be a good reason. Here some pictures of the actions in this small part of the Atlantic coast where Chipperfield left also his own stamp.

Façade of the house in Corrubedo

This house is an authentic viewpoint to the Atlantic Ocean, a construction thought to let the sea be the main figure and to help anybody to enjoy it.

Once you have contact with his works, you understand everything and you realize that predilection for apparent simplicity is the key in all his works, sober and subtle but at the same time magnificent and elegant.

Veles e Vents, port of Valencia for America´s Cup

The beautiful forms he creates without stridency are able to relax the mind and transport us to a space where nothing is superfluous, everything is clean, translucent… it invites you to rest, exactly as the 3^rd floor of the Puerta América Hotel in Madrid.

Puerta América Hotel (Madrid)

Should you have the possibility to do it, don’t miss the touring exhibition of the Design Museum in London, titled: “Form Matters” which will take place at the Pedro Barrié de la Maza Foundation in A Coruña from the 25^th February. I would never miss it!

You can enjoy all his works in his web: www.davidchipperfield.com

arturo alvarez is present at the new office of the Galician College of Architects (COAG) Vigo, an example of bioclimatic architecture.

In their new head quarters, the COAG achieves that architects themselves are the leaders in setting an example as for the use and promotion of buildings, not only esthetically brilliant but also intelligent environmentally friendly.

Its materials and shapes are able to keep the heat in winter and the coolness in summer thanks to its double “skin”, underneath circulates the air. All the illumination, no exceptions, is energy-efficient and it hardly exist any divisions in the spaces, so to obtain unusual lightness and luminosity. They even recycle the rain to water the green zones!

arturo alvarez had the opportunity to participate in this huge project, e.g., the offices occupied by the consultancy EOSA (Strategy and Organisation), doing its bit to support the use of energy saving methods without dropping design and the formal beauty.

Thanks to this kind of projects we become every day a little bit more aware of the importance of working all together in order to obtain a world more ecological and respectful with the environment.

If you want to know more about this building and the project directed by the architects Jesús Isarri and Guadalupe Piñeira, please look up in the website: http://www.peruarki.com/oficina-central-de-arquitectos-irisarri-pinera/

The perfect combination: glass, wood, metal… In plain heart of the San Francisco Bay (USA) these fine materials wisely intermingle to raise a construction of architectonical avant-garde lines, able to perfectly imitate with the surrounding environment.

Accurately imitating these horizontal lines, the suspension lamp CEBRAS of arturo alvarez, proposed by Boutique Design, turns into an essential part of this house, as nexus together with the edification and the decoration.

Using the Tiffany’s technique, originally from the US, reinvented and brimming with freshness, this hand-made lamp manufactured in Spain with welded stained glass perfectly mixes the modern spirit with the timeless and warm nature of its materials.

You can have a stroll in this house in Sausalito with the help of this photo report presented by Deborah Fletcher in: Open Homes Photography. I hope you will enjoy it; you will feel like sailing a boat in the bay…

After lots of years going from here to there every time we had to take a picture from our material, as nomads, moving materials, furniture, etc., etc., we have finally our own set!

We decided to restore an old garage for buses with housing for the driver  in the upper part.
The garage, in existence for more than seventy years and close to our company.
Full of anecdotes of the neighbours of this area, which during many years came closer to it just to travel to the city. A voyage that took one a half hour through impossible roads and which nowadays is made in only 20 minutes…

Is in a wonderful environment, full of deep and green vegetation, very typical of Galicia.
We fully respected the original structure as far as we only arranged  and dressed it with colour and happiness on the outside.

Our idea is also to open it to cultural events and to integrate it in the life of the area and for everyone who needs it for social-cultural use too.

Here the making of the garage of arturo alvarez, enjoy it!

Do you still have not heard about it?

The hotel chain Room Mate has just inaugurated its new hotel in Barcelona, the Room Mate EMMA.

It is a city hotel situated right in downtown Barcelona. Its fantastic façade, designed by the architecture studio of Nadal Moneo, invites us to enter and to delight with the spaces showing the hallmark of Tomás Alía; he surprises us again with its futuristic interior design for this project, a one which counts between other first level designs, with our collection NIM (design by Arturo Álvarez) and V (design by Héctor Serrano for arturo alvarez).

There can be no doubt that this hotel complies with the desire of its founders: it invites you to feel at home of a friend, in this case, your friend EMMA: daring, cheerful, creative…

We are delighted how all details are spoiled and believe in a decoration of design, of avant-garde and sophisticated, not only in the public spaces but specially in the rooms. In order to make the stay in a hotel turning into a full sensory experience, which invites you to pass more time in the hotel and, above all, to return: Added value with guaranteed success.

If you visit Barcelona don’t miss it, it is worth to see!

Fachada/façade by Nadal Moneo

Rooms by Tomás Alía. Wall lamp NIM and suspension NIM by arturo alvarez.