Articles by Pilar Caballero

Tom Robertson Architects have reconfigured a small heritage workers cottage in the back streets of Melbourne to bring light and volume into the once dark spaces of this site. The resulting forms create a sense of spaciousness and adapt to a more contemporary living style.

After more than eight years of effort and a passed bond vote, Aberdeen proceeded with replacing its 1950’s era library. The former library was overcrowded, had little natural light, and suffered from repeated water damage. A new civic based design was pursued to address these issues, and to develop a new “living room” for the city.  The result is a state-of-the-art building that can both inspire and serve the needs of the community.  This library was not designed to be a bin for dusty books and card files; it was designed to be a center of creativity, research and collaboration…and to be free to the public.

78 Third Place–the first Passive Plus House built in the United States–included a rehabilitation of a townhouse built in the early 1900’s. Revitalized by New York-based studio, Baxt Ingui, the work respected the original historical architecture of the main building and restoration of the front façade, while adding a new third floor with a mansard and a modern rear addition whose size rivaled the existing home.

Center Point Tower, designed by Richard Seifert, stands between New Oxford Street and Charing Cross Road. A symbol of the vibrant and liberating social change affecting 1960s London, it was one of the first tall buildings in London to be constructed using pre-cast structural components. This new technique, developed by structural engineers Pell Frischmann (who returned to work on the building alongside Conran and Partners in the current transformation) resulted in a precisely manufactured exo-skeleton structure. This was manufactured off-site and then delivered to site on a daily basis, panel by panel, for installation.

Liesje Reyskens is a young Belgian art photographer. She prefers working with young cute models, portrayed as dolls in a colourful, pink and barbie-like world.  

“The location between the cathedral square and the Aa-shore prompted us to form the courtyard as a small and quiet square with the entrance to the new “Philosophikum”. However, the old entrance on the cathedral square is to be reactivated as another access. The new building of the “Philosophikum” forms a unity with the old building, connected through a Attrium that acts as a gap. This unified character is also strengthened by the materiality of the brickwork facades, which receive a sand-colored lime-cement-mortar slurry, through which the reddish brick shimmers.

Defining an urban edge between Oklahoma City’s business and arts districts, the freestanding auditorium is a prominent, multi-use venue designed to support private and public events. As a key component of the adjacent Devon Energy Headquarters, the 300-seat auditorium’s strong presence activates street life and supports downtown’s revitalization. The intimately scaled auditorium is nestled in a landscaped garden and provides dramatic views of downtown and the adjacent city park, Myriad Gardens.

A wide lot backing onto Ancaster Creek is the site for an intergenerational home for a couple and their elderly parents. The house was conceived as two distinct residences, each formed into a linear bar containing the full program of a home. The bars sit perpendicular to each other, creating a landscaped courtyard setback from the street, and stack at the corner.

PA House is a private house for a small and new settled family. There are 3 bedrooms including one master bedroom and two bedrooms reserving for guest and their child in the future. Not only the bedrooms but there are also 2 more main requirements from the owner which are a great common area for living and dining, where the owners always get together with their friends as the new generation’s lifestyle does, and the privacy, the owner’s most important issue, from the unpleasant surroundings. While the house needs privacy, it still has to be roomy and clear in the same time.

After an extensive renovation the church, which dates from 1884, was redeveloped into a multifunctional center containing a library and a museum but also a bar and shops.