OnSITE wins contest to create Saudi Arabian desert house

French architecture studio OnSITE has designed a holiday home made up of four rock-like rooms, which could be built in the Al-Ula desert in the north west of Saudi Arabia.

The holiday home by OnSITE was the winner of the inaugural Sculpting Spaces: Architectural Desert Dwellings for Al-Ula competition.

It was designed in collaboration with artist studio Lehm Design Raum, Jordanian textile artist Ishraq Zraikat, ceramics company Amaco and landscape designer Sensomoto.

The team's design takes the form of four small buildings, named void room, earth room, water room, fire room, that would be grouped together on a valley floor surrounded by red-sandstone cliffs.

Each of the free-standing rooms would be 15 square-metres and clad in locally sourced rock and contain one of the holiday home's functions.

A bed would be placed in the earth room, while the fire room, which the team describe as an "inhabitable chimney", would contain a kitchen.

The water room would be a dome-like structure with a saltwater bath and a shower that flows from the dome's oculus, while the void room would be arranged around a central stone monolith and used as a place to write, sit or eat.

The holiday home would be completed with a fifth "room" located on the valley ridge. This structure would be a stone plinth accessed by steps cut into the valley wall and would be used as an observatory.

The holiday home was designed for the Al-Ula area of Saudi Arabia, which is around 220 miles north of the city of Medina and contains the Madain Saleh UNESCO World Heritage site.

It is part of the Royal Commission for Al-Ula's long-term plan to develop tourism in the region. The commission will now work with the OnSITE team to develop the project.

"Ultimately the aim will be to open these dwellings to visitors, allowing them to experience overnight stays at this evolving cultural crossroads, where art, heritage and nature meet," said the commission.

OnSITE's design was chosen from a shortlist of ten by a jury led by Adrian Lahoud, dean of the School of Architecture at the Royal College of Art in London and curator of the 2020 Sharjah Triennale.

"The proposal reinterprets the possibilities of inhabiting this phenomenal landscape, whilst being respectful and true to the qualities of local life, materials and indigenous nature," said the jury.

"The Sculpting Spaces programme maximises, draws on, [and] recognises the potential of the desert as a dynamic territory of possibility. It has been exciting and inspiring to see this heritage site coming to life through the eyes of the artists and architects who have shared their proposals with us."

Visualisations by OnSITE, Lehm Design Raum, Amaco and Sensomoto.

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Yellow desk made from concrete-injected balloons feature of Hem headquarters

Hem has designed its own headquarters at the centre of Stockholm, with interiors by the furniture brand's in-house design team and Atelier Paul Vaugoyeau.

A focal point of the HQ is a three-metre-long edition of Hem's Puffy Brick counter that's covered in amorphous, acid-yellow blocks.

London-based art and design studio Soft Baroque produced the counter by injecting balloons with concrete and then arranging them in a mould.

The 750-square-metre headquarters were needed to house Hem's Stockholm-based team, which doubled in size over 2019, outgrowing the constraints of their previous workspace.

The brand worked alongside local multidisciplinary design studio Atelier Paul Vaugoyeau to develop new offices that are able to efficiently accommodate its various company departments.

Hem's founder, Petrus Palmér, says that the HQ will also be "where [the brand's] experiments materialise".

"We have a lot of different needs such as environments for focused coding, a workshop for furniture mock-ups, a showroom space for customers etc," Palmér told Dezeen.

"With the new office, we were able to design the space from scratch, catering to all those needs, and practise what we preach – creating inspirational environments for people to thrive in."

Black desks and high-back chairs have been dotted amongst the building's chunky concrete structural columns.

The same furnishings appear in the office's glass-fronted meeting rooms, where groups of staff can head for privacy or more focused tasks.

Employees can alternatively work in more casual lounge-style areas, which feature Hem's own Hai armchairs, Kumo modular sofas and Last stools. Oversized, cone-shaped pendant lamps dangle down from above.

Atelier Paul Vaugoyeau has also "hacked" certain furnishings to elevate them from their standard office aesthetic. Simple MDF storage cabinets have been washed with a clear lacquer to highlight the natural hue of the timber.

The gridded ceiling has also been left exposed to frame views of the building's busy network of ventilation pipes.

"The bulk of Hem's business is with interior designers and progressive offices that usually avoid typical office elements, since it's seen as uncreative," added Palmér.

"Paul Vaugoyeau, who designed the architectural elements, shows that just by tweaking standard choices such as a grid ceiling or file cabinets, you can create a unique environment."

Hem's relocation to new head offices coincides with the beginning of the city's design week.

The event has so far seen Swedish brand Massproductions release an outdoor sofa that is meant to resemble the welded steel barriers erected at concerts to control crowds.

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The top architecture and design roles this week include positions at Johnson Naylor and David Chipperfield Architects

This week we've hand-picked five of the most promising opportunities on Dezeen Jobs, including vacancies at interior architecture studio Johnson Naylor and architecture firm David Chipperfield Architects.

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Senior designer at Johnson Naylor

Interior architecture firm Johnson Naylor is looking for an interior designer to join its studio in London. The practice recently converted a world war two pumping station into a holiday home on Dungeness beach in England's Kent.

Browse all roles for designers ›

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3D visualiser at David Chipperfield Architects

David Chipperfield Architects has completed the London outpost of art gallery Bastien, featuring an exhibition space, private showroom and small office. The firm has a vacancy for a 3D visualiser to join its team in London.

View all visualisation jobs ›

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Project architect at Coop Himmelb(l)au

Coop Himmelb(l)au is searching for a project architect to develop design concepts at its Vienna office in Austria. The studio completed the Museum of Contemporary Art and Planning Exhibition, a huge curved art complex in China's Shenzhen.

See more project architect opportunities ›

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Architects at Allies and Morrison

Allies and Morrison has created a masterplan for Madinat Al Irfan, a new city in Oman which will be transformed from a desert valley into a 624-hectare urban centre. The studio is recruiting for architects at its London office with experience across the masterplanning, commercial, residential and mixed-use sectors.

View all architecture positions ›

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Furniture/industrial designer at Starck Network Agency

Starck Network Agency has an opening for a furniture/industrial designer at its practice in London. French designer Philippe Starck has collaborated with luxury car brand Bently to create a smart power dock for the vehicle manufacturer's new Bentayga Hybrid model.

See more industrial design roles ›

See all the latest architecture and design roles on Dezeen Jobs ›

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Pale green ceramic tiles cover exhibition centre in China

Architecture practice Playze and design firm Schmidhuber covered the Ningbo Urban Planning Exhibition Center in eastern China in a skin of pale green glazed ceramic tiles.

Located in Ningbo Eastern New Town overlooking the waterfront, the conference centre is a venue for exhibitions and events relating to urban planning and development.

"The goal was to create an engaging, accessible public space in the new district, and thereby foster the dialogue between citizens and decision makers," said Schmidhuber and Playze.

The long history of ceramic production in Ningbo inspired the centre's facade.

The tiled surface sweeps around the upper level of the entire centre like a green hill.

Varying gaps between each tile have created a screen that is solid in some areas and more open in others.

This variegation diffuses light and views in different areas of the interior.

"The ceramic screen gradually shifts between being nearly transparent to fully opaque, according to programme needs and views to the surroundings," explained Playze.

Raised atop a concrete base that sweeps up from the waterfront promenade, the centre's large, flowing form comprises four arms arranged around a central atrium.

Between each of these arms are paved terraces and green spaces.

These terraces are linked by a winding pathway that wraps around the centre's perimeter.

A single entrance sits at ground floor level, and steps lead up to four separate entrances in each side of the centre's first floor.

The strip of uncovered glazing at the centre's base and a glazed ceiling flood bring natural light into the interiors.

A circular route of stairs and ramps wraps around the edge of the central atrium to create a promenade-style series of spaces.

"Visitors explore the exhibition much like an urban neighbourhood," said  Playze.

"They choose their own individual path through indoor and outdoor exhibition spaces, as well as lounges and terraces with scenic views of the city deliberately connecting the exhibition content with the newly developed urban surroundings."

The ground and first floors are dedicated to public areas, such as a restaurant, library and reading space.

Main exhibition halls are on the second and third floors.

On the roof is a public viewing terrace and cafe overlooking the landscape.

Architecture practice CROX recently took a similar approach of merging its design for the Liyang Museum into the surrounding landscape, perching its blob-like form atop a series of undulating hills on the waterfront.

Photography is by CreatAR Images.

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Project credits:

Architects (competition stage): Playze and Schmidhuber
Architects (execution stage): Playze
Local design institute: Shanghai Institute of Architectural Design and Research
Landscape design institute: Ningbo Institute of Urban Construction Design and Research
Facade consultant: RFR Group
General contractor: Hwaking Construction Group
Interior/exhibition design and construction: Feng Yu Zhu

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Mark Odom Studio restores mid-century building for Austin insurance company BKCW

US firm Mark Odom Studio has opened up the floor plan of a mid-century office building in Austin for insurance company BKCW.

The original structure by architects Pendley & Day was built in 1960 on North Lamar Boulevard, in an area just north of downtown Austin. It's low-slung form juts out on stilts to overlook Shoal Creek, a popular park that runs through the centre of the city.

Local insurance company BKCW recently purchased the property to restore the 3,000 square-foot (278 square metres) structure for use as their offices.

"Meredith and Tyler Spears, owners of the heritage and family operated insurance company BKCW, bought the building for its iconic mid-century architecture which they felt reflected their company culture, attitude, and goals," said Mark Odom Studio.

The office building had been subdivided multiple times over the years, creating cramped interiors with poor natural lighting. In an effort to return the structure to its original state, the architects started by removing these walls.

"This approach fully expressed the entire building volume by not only opening up the interior, but by allowing the prominent glass facades to flood the space with natural light," said the studio, which is based in Austin, and San Antonio Texas.

Visitors enter via a ramp that fronts North Lamar Boulevard and leads into the open-plan offices. A single opening in the brick volume provides access to an open-plan work area, flanked on two sides by private offices and a conference room.

Floor-to-ceiling windows, composed of more energy-efficient glazing and steel mullions, bring plenty of natural light into the workplace.

At the back, there is a secondary volume for the company's employees, including a break room and an exterior terrace behind the building.

"Complimenting the very public southern and western views, the eastern windows now face a revitalised subterranean back courtyard, which acts as a respite from the North Lamar traffic," said Mark Odom Studio.

In addition to salvaging beige brick from the original building, the firm developed a palette that references materials popular in the 1960s, such as cork flooring and stained wood paneling. Vintage furniture matches these material choices, completing the retro look of the revitalisation project.

Other projects in Austin include an eclectic restaurant with features salvaged from a New York City bar, and a carefully rehabilitated mid-century residence by architecture studio Clayton & Little.

Last summer, OMA was selected to complete the renovation of Houston's Barbara Jordan Post Office into a mixed-use venue for arts called POST.

Photography is by Leonid Furmansky.

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