Press Release
Direction Architects Receives the Silver A' Design Award for House Symbiosis Double Residency in Architecture, Building and Structure Design
Direction Architects recognized for architecture, building and structure design by the international grand jury of the 2023 - 2024 A' Design Award & Competition
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, April 19, 2024 /DesignNewswire/ A' Design Award & Competition has announced that House Symbiosis Double Residency by Direction Architects has been granted the Silver A' Design Award in the Architecture, Building and Structure Design category. The award was conferred within the 2023 - 2024 A' Design Award & Competition and was decided through blind peer review by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members, who scored anonymized entries against predetermined criteria.
The Silver A' Design Award Explained
The Silver A' Design Award celebrates top-tier designs that embody excellence and innovation. This award acknowledges creations that are not only aesthetically pleasing but also highly functional, reflecting the designer's deep understanding and skill. Silver A' Design Award recipients are recognized for their contribution to raising industry standards and advancing the practice of design. Their work often incorporates original innovations and elicits a strong emotional response, making a notable impact on the improvement of everyday life.
About House Symbiosis Double Residency
House Symbiosis is a double residence built for two sibling families. The building stands at the rear of a corner plot and forms an L shape in plan, leaving the front area as open space. Only 27 percent of the site was covered by construction, which allows communal outdoor areas and greenery. Each residence measures 220 square metres, and a shared core of 85 square metres links the two homes. Displaced facades create balconies and cantilevers that limit visual contact between interiors. A sculptural ribbon-like element with double curvature unfolds on the front inner facade.
About Direction Architects
John Kanakas is a Greek-British Architect with Cypriot origins, born in Athens and lived more than a decade in London. Prior to founding Direction Architects, operating between Athens and London, he gained a vast experience, working at Zaha Hadid Architects and Foster + Partners. John received his Part 1, 2 & 3 from the Architectural Association and he is a registered and RIBA Chartered Architect in the UK and Greece. John is passionate about the relationship between architecture and society and how the built environment in relation to site specific conditions, cultural factors and local parameters influence our cities, our communities and the spaces we live in.
Award Record
Direction Architects is a winner of 1 A' Design Award, including this recognition.
About the A' Architecture, Building and Structure Design Award
The A' Architecture Design Award is an international architectural design competition recognizing good architectural designs by best architects worldwide. It is organized within the A' Design Award & Competition and is open to architectural design studios, building contractors, structural engineering firms and architecture and design consultants from all countries. Typical entries include skyscrapers, museums, residential buildings, commercial complexes, educational institutions and religious structures. The awarded architectural projects are published at https://dezigners.org/design-category/architecture
About A' Design Award & Competition
Organized annually since 2008, A' Design Award & Competition is an international, juried design accolade. The competition is open to entries from all countries. The philanthropic mission of the A' Design Award is to advance society through good design, by recognizing and promoting superior products, projects and services that benefit society, and by creating a global awareness and appreciation for good design practices and principles. Nominations are peer reviewed and evaluated anonymously by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members against predetermined criteria such as functionality, ergonomics, engineering, presentation, innovation, usability, sustainability and technology, with score normalization applied to remove biases. Awards are conferred at Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Iron levels. Eligible laureates receive the A' Design Prize, which includes the award trophy, the certificate of design excellence, the hardcover yearbook, a lifetime license to use the A' Design Award winner logo, exhibition of awarded works, an invitation to the gala night and award ceremony in Italy, inclusion in the World Design Rankings and Designer Rankings, and public relations and publicity services. Registration, uploading a work and receiving a preliminary score are free of charge, and Professional and Digital Edition laureates are not contractually obliged to pay further fees to claim the A' Design Prize. More information is available at https://competition.adesignaward.com
Press Resources
- Winner Page: https://dezigners.org/159863
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/159863
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!159863
- Laureate Profile: https://dezigners.org/d/353893
- Further Information from the Laureate: https://www.directionarchitects.com/project/house-symbiosis/
Media Contact
Giulia Ferrari, Press Office
Designers.Org
Via Leone Leoni 32, 22100 Como, Italy
press@designers.org
+39 031 4491953
###
Fact Sheet
The Work
- Project
- House Symbiosis Double Residency
- Function
- Double Residency
- Category
- Architecture, Building and Structure Design
- Discipline
- Spatial Design
- Industry
- Architecture
- Colors
- Light Blue, Black, Dark Gray, Steel Blue and Light Steel Blue
- Images
- 5
The Recognition
- Laureate
- Direction Architects
- Country
- Greece
- Recognition
- Silver A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2023 - 2024
- Design ID
- #159863
Credits
- Team
- John Kanakas and Kostas Christopoulos
- Image Credits
- Studio Naaro
Design Details
- Unique Properties
- House Symbiosis is a double residency, designed to accommodate two sibling families seeking to foster close bonds while preserving individual privacy. The house is located at the rear of a corner plot, forming an L shape in plan, leaving the front part as open space. The site allowed for a maximum of 40% plot coverage from which only the 27% was built. This planning approach shows an environmental conscious attitude to architecture, while allowing space for external communal areas for socialization as well as greenery.
- Inspiration
- House Symbiosis gain inspiration from the yacht, aerospaceship and automotive industries. In the same time the project is also designed as a statement of freedom. From a close-up experience, it gives the impression of a structure, floating somewhere between sky and sea. The project responds to the evolving demands of contemporary living, emphasizing familial bonds and offering a nuanced balance between communal and individual living.
- Research
- In a fast paced ever changing world, what matters most is spending more time with the people that we care about. The main scope of the brief was to create a new typology for a double residency to shelter two sibling families, that want to spend more time together, while in the same time maintain their own private spaces. As a result, House Symbiosis, was born.
- Challenge
- The main challenge of the project involved navigating the delicate equilibrium between privacy and socialization for the two families. Architectural experimentation with geometry, spatial orientation, facades and volumetric massing address this challenge. The volumetric displacement of facades generates balconies and cantilevers, strategically limiting visual contact between interiors and creating secluded outdoor spaces. A sculptural ribbon-like geometry on the front inner facade creates an impression of a moving structure.
- Realization and Technology
- In terms of construction, the main structure was raised up level by level through various types of wooden formworks for concrete casting. In some cases, where there were double curved geometries, it was required the combination of multiple formworks in order to achieve them. A main sculptural element of the project is a ribbon-like geometry with parts of double curvature, which unfolds on the front inner facade of the building. In order to construct this complex geometry, a detailed formworking procedure was required with the usage of horizontal and vertical formworks.
- Operation and Interaction
- The project's emphasis on internal circulation drove the design process, adopting a sculptural tectonic approach reflected in the volumetric massing of the final structure. The resulting curvilinear formal language imparts a sense of dynamism and motion to the living spaces. The house gives the impression of heading towards two opposite directions.
- Project Duration and Location
- The project is located in a residential neighbourhood in Athens, Greece. The project's design period started during half way of 2018 and was completed in early 2019. A long project planning period followed the same year. The project started construction alongside the pandemic in March 2020 and finished around the end of 2022, with final touches happening in the beginning of 2023. The project was furnished in early 2023 and photographed by a professional photographer in May 2023.
- Specifications
- Project Areas Total Housing Area: 440 sqm Residence 1 Area: 220 sqm Residence 2 Area: 220 sqm Communal Core Area: 85 sqm Underground Area: 185sqm Building Site Coverage: 40% Total Building are: 700 sqm Site Area: 700 sqm
- Keywords
- #housesymbiosis #directionarchitects #studionaaro
