Koening Books is a specialist contemporary art bookseller, occupying the site of the former Zwemmer bookshop in Charing Cross Road, London, a neighbourhood of specialist booksellers.
The project respects the store’s urban context and reflects the unique character of the Koening family business. While the original Victorian facade has been retained, the interior has been completely rebuilt, maximising the space available on the ground and basement floors and improving circulation.
A single surface treatment to floor, walls and stairs of black stained oak, imbued with contemporary and traditional qualities, ensures that the …

The new offices for the law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer are located in an existing freestanding building. The projet sought to provide a feeling of quality as well as inspiration for employees and clients alike, and to promote the visibility of the practice whilst maintaining its privacy and professionalism. The building is located between the new Amsterdam World Trade Centre, a dynamic cluster of new towers, and a residential neighbourhood of modest mid-century villas.

The project was initially an office interior design project and grew into an architectural project. The existing …

Des Moines Public Library,USA/ david chipperfield
The library forms an integral part of the new Des Moines “Western Gateway Park”. This area of the city is currently undergoing extensive redevelopment and the new library and park are the centrepiece for the urban renewal of Des Moines.
Located at the east end of the park, the new library acts as a link between downtown Des Moines and the park. One the one hand, it responds to the city block, but at the same time it stretches out into the parkland, floating in the …

The building and park were the social focal point for the 2007 America’s Cup-the world’s premier offshore racing competition, staged in Europe for the first time in over 150 years following Swiss Team Alinghi’s win over Team New Zealand in 2003, and the selection of Valencia as host city. The Louis Vuitton Cup started in April 2007 and the climax, the 32nd America’s Cup match, started at the end of June 2007.

The America’s Cup Building “Veles e Vents”(Sails and Winds) was completed within 11 months of winning the competition in …

This office building is located within “Campus Audiovisual”,a part of the regenerated 19th  century industial area of Poblenou, fronting a southern section of the Diagonal and close to the boundary of the Eixample and Sant Mart areas of the city. The site occupies approximately one half of an urban block within Idefons Cerda’s masterplan. Simple and bold sculptural forms have been carved out of the given project boundaries.

The spaces between these buildings form small piazzas-social spaces that link the buildings of the masterplan. To reinforce the object-like quality of each …

Within the context of the urban development of central Berlin the district of “Friedrichswerder” has been developed,based on the guidelines “planwerk Innenstadt” draw up by the Senate Department for Urban Development. Historic areas of urban development such as England’s noted townhouse settlements of the last two centuries have served as inspiration for the new district in Berlin.

The return to the historic urban make-up,in which traditional urban elements such as house,courtyard,block,street and square constiture the skeletal structure,formed the basis of the “Planwerk Innenstadt” guidelines.

Within the tight restrictions of a deep and …

Barcelona’s new law courts complex breaks down the 330,000 square metre programme into nine buildings,four of which are linked by a continuous four-storey high concourse building.The project includes the design of all public,courtroom,and office interiors. The first of the buildings was completed in September 2007.

Previously,the various legal departments of the governments of Barcelona and I’Hospitalet was scattered in 17 buildings across the two cities,with functional frustrations for both users and employees.A new conjoined City of Justice aims to improve efficiency and allow working spaces to adapt and absorb the constant …

The campus of museums and “City of Cultures” is located within a block of disused industrial buildings on the site of the former Ansaldo factory in Milan.Inspired by the typical Milanese condition of quiet,somebre Street Facades concealing beautiful,intricate courtyards,the project looked to emphasise the inevitably internalised quality of the existing site.As a formal intervention within an informal industrial complex,therefore,the proposal looked to accept and build upon these inherent characteristics through both the restoration of the existing industrial buildings and the introduction of a new and distinct central building as a …

The new 8000 m2 Anchorage Museum Expansion also creates a new entrance to the museum.The organisation of the new building is based on five linear volumes of varying length and height arranged along the western face of the existing building.This arrangement forms a new facade and entrance facing downtown Anchorage.

The new building offers windows through which the activity of the museum is observed.The visitor,from within,is reoriented to the city context and its extraordinary natural setting beyond.The glass facade of the new four-storey building is fritted with a striped mirror pattern,providing …

The new state of the art BBC headquarters building encompasses all aspects of television,radio,and internet,accommodating production facilities,digital studios,technical support,and office space.The design seeks to encourage creative interaction between the 1000 occupants by connecting all the workspaces with a central rising atrium that acts as a place for meeting,working and circulating.

The building is located alongside the abandoned Govan docks on an exposed plot of land dominated by the expanse of the river Clyde and the mountains of the Scottish Highlands.Faced with this open landscape,the building had to find ways to establish …