Black facades contrast pale interiors in Lluvia house by PPAA

Courtyards and double-height spaces create a bright and airy atmosphere inside this black house in Mexico City, which was designed by architecture studio PPAA.

Lluvia house is located in Jardines del Pedregal, an upscale residential district in the southern part of the city. The modernist architect Luis Barragán created the area's master plan in the 1940s.

Rising two storeys, the dwelling sits on a long, rectangular site that totals 1,076 square metres. Local firm PPAA, or Pérez Palacios Arquitectos Asociados, set out to create a family home that embraced the natural greenery found on the property.

"Our main intention was to merge sections of the main, forest-like garden with the interior of the house and let in natural light," the studio said.

The firm created a series of rectilinear volumes, with a number of voids integrated into the plan. The openings give the 600-square-metre residence a bright and airy feel.

"The house is conceived as a solid volume that incorporates subtractions along the main axis," the studio said. "These are formed as small courtyards and double-height spaces, depending on the programme."

Exterior walls are made of concrete block covered with a black-hued coating called Corev. Teak wood was used for accents such as window shutters.

The interior features light-toned finishes that contrast with the black exterior. Rooms and corridors feature white walls and pale grey flooring. Windows are trimmed with white oak – the same material used for wall panels and flooring in certain areas.

Public and private zones are distributed across the home's two levels. On the ground floor, the team incorporated a garage, laundry facilities, a kitchen, a dining space, a living room and a family room. The public area flows onto a terrace with cooking equipment and a built-in fireplace.

The upper storey encompasses a master suite, three bedrooms and a lounge area. The two levels are connected by a staircase made of masonry and finished with sandblasted marble.

Rooms are fitted with contemporary decor, including a grey sofa and glossy white coffee table. Multiple skylights bring daylight deep into the interior.

At the centre of the home is a courtyard with a magnolia tree and permeable pavers. There also is a courtyard in the front of the dwelling.

PPAA has designed a number of residential projects in Mexico, including a black home in a hilly, forested area and a stone-clad retreat for two brothers who enjoy rock climbing.

Photography is by Rafael Gamo.

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Project credits:

Architect:PPAA, or Pérez Palacios Arquitectos Asociados
Team: Pablo Pérez Palacios, Alfonso de la Concha Rojas, Miguel Vargas, José Hadad, Ignacio Rodríguez, Armando Rosas, Fabián Arellano

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Watch our talk with Emeco and Emma Olbers on sustainable furniture design live from Stockholm Furniture Fair

Designer Emma Olbers and Emeco CEO Gregg Buchbinder discuss how the furniture industry can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions in this livestream from Stockholm Furniture Fair.

The stream is now live. Watch it above.

Titled End the Excuses and moderated by Swedish architecture writer Mark Isitt, the talk investigates how furniture producers and designers can work together to ensure that their manufacturing processes have minimal impact on the environment.

Designer Emma Olbers and Emeco CEO Gregg Buchbinder will discuss sustainable furniture design

Olbers is a Swedish designer, creative director and founder of studio Emma Olbers Design. The sustainability-focussed design practice recently completed a renovation of the library at Stockholm's Nationalmuseum, which featured woven hemp chairs and pine reading tables.

Buchbinder is CEO of American furniture manufacturer Emeco. The company was founded in 1944 with the launch of its best known product, the 1006 Navy Chair, made from salvaged aluminium for US Navy submarines and still in production today.

Dezeen collaborated with Emeco, French illustrator Jean Jullien and his animator brother Nicolas to create an animated film about the brand's designs, including a chair made from recycled plastic bottles and another designed by Philippe Starck formed of a mixture of waste plastic and wood.

Dezeen is media partner for Stockholm Furniture and Light Fair 2020, which takes place at Stockholmmassan in the Swedish capital from 4 to 8 February.

Dezeen is broadcasting a number of talks on 4 February, including a lecture by London-based studio Doshi Levien about its design process.

Portraits of Emma Olbers and Gregg Buchbinder courtesy of Emma Olbers Design and Emeco.

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Powerhouse Company reveals floating off-grid office in Rotterdam

Dutch architects Powerhouse Company has designed a floating office in Rotterdam for the Global Center on Adaptation that will be carbon neutral and function off-grid.

The Floating Office Rotterdam (FOR) is set to be moored at the Rijnhaven port on the Maas River, as an example of wha Powerhouse Company  called "climate-resilient office design".

If sea levels rise due to climate change the office will float rather than flood.

Once complete, the timber structure will have solar panels and a water-based heat-exchange system installed to ensure it is self-sufficient and carbon neutral in operation.

Visual is by Plomp

"Designing a sustainable, floating office building was a very challenging commission and we approached it in an integrated way," said Nanne de Ru, founder of Powerhouse Company.

"By using the water of the Rijnhaven to cool the building, and by using the roof of the office as a large energy source, the building is truly autarkic," Ru said. Autarky is to be self-sufficient.

Powerhouse Company designed FOR to reflect the values of the Global Center on Adaptation – a Rotterdam NGO that focuses on the mitigation of climate change through technology, planning and investment.

The building will host the organisation for a period of five to 10 years, before it is either made available to rent or relocated.

FOR will be built offsite from timber – chosen for its minimal carbon footprint – before being towed into position in autumn 2020. It will comprise three-storeys of office space accessed by a boardwalk.

Externally, the offices will be distinguished by a large overhanging pitched roof that will be lined with solar panels on one side. Vegetation on the other side will help keep the building cool.

Recessed balconies around each floor and a pitched roof will shade the office's large windows.

Visual is by Plomp

FOR will also have publicly-accessible restaurant with a large outdoor terrace and swimming pool positioned in line with the river.

"As the world's climate changes, extreme weather events and rising sea levels present new challenges for architects," said CEO of the Global Center on Adaptation Patrick Verkooijen.

"Embedding resilient features into a design before disaster strikes not only makes economic sense but it can also help us to mitigate against climate change," he continued.

"I hope it will inspire others to future-proof their infrastructure."

Powerhouse Company is an architecture studio founded in Rotterdam in 2005. Today it also has studios in Beijing, Oslo and Munich.

Other recent projects by the studio include a transparent student centre for Erasmus University in Rotterdam, and proposals for "the slimmest residential tower of Europe" and the conversion of a brutalist bunker into high-rise housing.

Visuals are by Atchain unless stated.

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Watch our talk with Doshi Levien live from Stockholm Furniture Fair

London design duo Doshi Levien discuss their collaborative creative process in a lecture and on-stage interview with Dezeen's founder and editor-in-chief Marcus Fairs in this livestream from Stockholm Furniture Fair 2020.

The livestream will begin at 14:00 Stockholm time. Watch it above or on Dezeen's Facebook page.

Nipa Doshi and Jonathan Levien are guests of honour at Stockholm Furniture and Light Fair, where they have created an exhibition for the show's entrance hall.

Doshi Levien delivers the Guest of Honour Lecture at Stockholm Furniture Fair 2020

In the lecture the pair, who have created pieces for brands including Cappellini, Moroso, Kvadrat and B&B Italia, explain how their distinct skillsets combine in their work, and delve into their design process.

Dezeen is media partner for Stockholm Furniture and Light Fair 2020, which takes place at Stockholmmassan in the Swedish capital from 4 to 8 February.

Dezeen is broadcasting a number of talks on 4 February, including a lecture by Sevil Peach about the future of office design.

Portrait of Jonathan Levien and Nipa Doshi courtesy of Doshi Levien.

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David Adjaye renovates Mole House undermined by illegal secret tunnels

A derelict house in London that had tunnels dug under it by the infamous Mole Man has been restored and adapted by architect David Adjaye for the artist Sue Webster.

Adjaye's studio Adjaye Associates has transformed the abandoned building, which sits atop a labyrinth of filled-in tunnels, into a live-work space for Webster.

The artist, who previously commissioned Adjaye Associates to build her a home called Dirty House, was attracted by the abandoned house's bizarre past.

For 40 years Mole House's previous owner, retired civil engineer William Lyttle, dug a warren of burrows under his 20-room home on Mortimer Road in east London.

Lyttle was dubbed the Mole Man by the press when the secret network of tunnels and caves were discovered. He was later evicted and the tunnels were blocked up with concrete.

In homage to the Mole Man's legacy, Adjaye Associates have built multiple entrances and exits to Mole House.

They also excavated it below street level and gave it a basement extension – with planning permission this time.

The three-storey house sits on a triangular plot, with two doors accessible from the road and driveway leading to the main house or the studio on the lower ground floor.

Steps also lead from the main house to the front garden, providing access to the studio and sunken back garden.

During the renovation the architecture studio carefully dug out 2,000 tonnes of the concrete used to fill up holes around the property, revealing years of what the studio called "fossilised domestic history".

Over 15,000 reclaimed London bricks were used to patch up the damaged facade.

Distressed, patchy render are left in place, further underlining Mole House's weird history, and a concrete band around the exterior adds to its bunker-style appearance.

Bay windows framed with patinated copper project from the lower levels and a new slate roof sits on top.

Interior walls and floors that were eroded by decay or damaged in a fire were removed, along with the party wall that had previously divided the property into two houses.

Open-plan living spaces are framed by exposed concrete walls and built-in timber elements such as cupboards and staircases.

Neighbours had been complaining about Lyttle's burrowing since moved into the property the 1960s, but he insisted he was only digging a large wine cellar.

In 2006, after a stretch of pavement collapsed due to undermining the council used an ultrasound scanner to reveal the extent of the Hackney Mole Man's hobby.

They discovered tunnels that were eight metres deep and 20 metres long, radiating in all directions. A reported 33 tonnes of gravel, earth, and junk including cars and a boat had to be removed by the council.

Lyttle, who passed away in 2010, was relocated to a flat and the house was sold at auction for £1.2 million in 2012.

Adjaye Associates was founded in 2000 by architect David Adjaye.

Adjaye also designed a home called Sunken House for the photographer Ed Reeve on a nearby street. In 2015 Reeve applied for planning permission to dig a private railway station under his property so he could connect to the new Crossrail underground trains.

Photography is by Ed Reeve.

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