Architecture and interior design thread

A picture i took a year ago of a site n Knighstbridge - the house is a typical Eton Sq style town house, about 7000 sq ft before refurb, with an unusually large garden - the photo is taken from where the garden door would have been - this is the excavation for a 5 level sub basement that was being built below the garden, about 8000 sq ft of floor space in total - to get an idea of the scale look at the ladder at the bottom. Client was putting a garage with car lift at the bottom, swimming pool, private nighclub, and other crazyness down there.

Those sorts of basements are truly mad. Who needs that many James Bond sets?

I quite approve of single level basement retrofits under small old houses, though.

where is that from/who is it by?

http://travel.nytimes.com/2006/03/19/travel/tmagazine/19ts-dream.html

The Wise Building at the Centre For Alternative Energy in Machynlleth Wales beautiful place to study more pictures at http://www.flickr.com/photos/funny_cyclist/sets/72157624606789847/

Those sorts of basements are truly mad. Who needs that many James Bond sets?

Abramovich has got to put the bodies somewhere.

I say if you have the cash why not

Exactly. Creating jobs etc.

There is no excuse for bad Architecture

http://travel.nytimes.com/2006/03/19/travel/tmagazine/19ts-dream.html

thanks

There is no excuse for bad Architecture

Someone should have said that to the people involved at Canary Wharf.

And T5.

I call Canary Wharf Gotham City and yes it would be good for sweet bombs to drop on it

Is it legal to just dig down as far as you want and keep building levels? Do you need planning permission to build under an existing house? Do loads of houses on posh streets have private nightclubs 150ft underground? That's blown my mind a little bit.

I have done several houses that go down 2 levels below existing basements, the one i pictured is quite rare, but had the space to do it - if it fits within planning guidelines, and structural engineers and an army of other consultants say it will work, then you can do it.

Quite often it will go to committee, as there will be objections, or it may need to be assessed for further impact on the area.

The thing is the properties you read about are as nothing compared to the ones you dont, as most people with the money are very private. I have doen a house with a waterslide from the master bedroom to the swimming pool in the basement, a house with a cricket net and virtual golf driving range, and a roman style villa where the "roof" of the central courtyard was a see through swimming pool, that was double hulled with a fish tank between the layers, creating the effect that you were swimming with fishes 30 ft up in the air.

You will find no publicity about any of these builds

Did you hear that?

That was the sound of my mind blowing for a second time. I'm glad that people with this enormous wealth have the sense of humour to do stuff like that - it's not all wasted on Bentleys and helicopters. A slide from the bedroom to the pool? Yes please.

Like a more awesome version of the Barclaycard advert. Finish up with a small squadron of hookers, pay contactlessly as you slide from the bedroom into the pool to 'freshen up'.

I have done several houses that go down 2 levels below existing basements, the one i pictured is quite rare, but had the space to do it - if it fits within planning guidelines, and structural engineers and an army of other consultants say it will work, then you can do it.

Quite often it will go to committee, as there will be objections, or it may need to be assessed for further impact on the area.

The thing is the properties you read about are as nothing compared to the ones you dont, as most people with the money are very private. I have doen a house with a waterslide from the master bedroom to the swimming pool in the basement, a house with a cricket net and virtual golf driving range, and a roman style villa where the "roof" of the central courtyard was a see through swimming pool, that was double hulled with a fish tank between the layers, creating the effect that you were swimming with fishes 30 ft up in the air.

You will find no publicity about any of these builds

Would you say, if you could take a chance and raise some capital, the lifestyle and rewards from developing far outway any paid job?

That basement is mad. Five levels?
I was at a CPD on 'elf and safety once and they showed a picture of a terrace with a big gap in the middle. The excavation had collapsed, pulling the house and the one next door into the hole. Nothing as big/sophisticated as that though.

There's a house in Alderley Edge where the original farmhouse and barns were taken apart and put to one side. The whole farmyard dug out, turned into a megarichhouse, and then the stuff on top put back.

http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2009/10/some-germans-build-this-outdoor-library-out-of-beer-crates/

It's an interesting project. I think those crates on the outside are prefabricated concrete panels taken from a 1960s department store that was being demolished in the West, though there may be beer crates somewhere else inside.

Here's another building made of beer crates:
I think it might be by http://www.winter-hoerbelt.de/ who seem to have spent the past decade going round the world making pavilions out of plastic crates. Lovely job!

I thought this short video might be interesting*. It's about a student architecture gathering in Ireland in 2008. Similar assemblies have been held for the past 31 years including in a train travelling across Scandinavia in 1997 and in a rusting ship on the Danube in Budapest in 2006.

*If I could work out how to embed it. Sorry

I thought this short video might be interesting*. It's about a student architecture gathering in Ireland in 2008. Similar assemblies have been held for the past 31 years including in a train travelling across Scandinavia in 1997 and in a rusting ship on the Danube in Budapest in 2006.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIz0xwWqpWc

Hey thanks, 6pt. Is there any guidance anywhere for how to do this? I looked but didn't find. Sorry to be tedious.

I should also have said the assembly was held at O'Donnell and Tuomey's Letterfrack furniture college, which I think is a lovely building.
This is a brief extract from the full film, available at http://www.archive.org/details/Easa008_teleologyDocumentaryfutureRuins_fothraighLeTeacht

One for the lighting enthusiasts: