Month: July 2023

In 2022, mou architecture studio was invited to design the Arcade Project for its public cultural space in Nanjing. The Arcade Project takes its name from the unfinished writing project of the German scholar Benjamin. The Arcade is the physical space where 19th-century Parisian consumer culture was born, a shopping center in the form of a street market, narrow and winding, housing cafes, repair shops, salons, restaurants, theatres, etc. Benjamin marveled at these ‘internal boulevards with glass roofs’, where people no longer had to be exposed to the elements, the Arcade was like a city, a microcosm of the world, which is a vision that the Arcades Project cultural space aims to realize. It is hoped that through this renovation and design, the local community will be revitalized and the cultural life of the city community will be enhanced and connected.

The brief is to design the lobby of Holiday Inns Samui Hotel, with pick-up and drop-off space for guests’ vehicles and a conference room. We started thinking about the setting and the orientation of the building through the existing conditions of the site. The main axis of the lobby has the northeast sea view, and, along that axis, there is a big Java Plum tree that we decide to enclose its space with sphere geometries. 

Casa Esten was originally the shed of an old country house in Buenos Aires. The project arose from the need to convert it into a weekend house or for temporary rental. 

The integral reform of this house is based on the use of traditional materials such as handmade clay or noble materials such as stone or wood. All this combined with continuous flooring made with micro cement brings a clean touch to the space. In this way, the floor also gives protagonism to the ceilings that are kept with their original moldings, with the exception of the living-dining room, in which we opted for wood effect beams to bring even more warmth to the space. All this creates an environment where the neutral tones and textures of the materials, in combination, create a harmonious effect in each room.

The Immerso Hotel complex was designed with a strong focus on its relationship with the surrounding landscape, defined by the valley it sits on and the powerful presence of the ocean.