Amir Mann - Ami Shinar Architects & Planners Ltd.

Z Design Building

Z Design Building
© Dana Polo
Z Design Building
© Dana Polo

Z DESIGN BUILDING 

Ami Shinar – Amir Mann

LOCATION
Holon, Israel

CATEGORY
Apartments

AREA
8500.0 sqm

PHOTOGRAPHS
Dana Polo

PROJECT YEAR
2013

The basic concept behind the Z Design building, located next to Design Museum Holon (by Ron Arad), is the expression of the basic residential"aggregate"– the apartment –almost as an independent unit.

This articulation is achieved simply as each second floor (containing four apartments) rotates around the building core relative to the two floors below or above.

Z Design Building
© Dana Polo
Z Design Building
© Dana Polo
Z Design Building
© Dana Polo

Thus also every second apartment gains a large 30 sqm "roof terrace", as an integral element of building mass.

The rich volumetric composition of the whole building is achieved almost as a by-product of that simple shift.

Thus also another feature is gained: no more "main" and "side" facades;each side of the building is as important.

Z Design Building
© Dana Polo
Z Design Building
© Dana Polo
Z Design Building
© Dana Polo

Of course this design maybe a renewal of old, quite forgotten ideas, such as Safdie's1967 Habitat in Montreal, Kisho Kurokawa’s Nakagin Capsule Tower in Tokyo (1972) and less known "Patio Building" in Beer-Sheva, Israel, by Lufenfeld-Gamerman, 1965. However most such pioneering experiments somehow have vanished.

The Z Design Building with its "revolving" geometry reproduces this old-new vocabulary, while simply and economically constructed as conventional concrete skeleton with on-site prefab walls installed on it.

Z Design Building
© Dana Polo
Z Design Building
© Dana Polo

In 30 or 40 story high buildings it will just as well be implemented:.

We may envision a whole city block designed accordingly with low-rise street buildings surrounding some tall ones in between, around a small open public space.

Z Design Building
© Dana Polo
Z Design Building
© Dana Polo

Exterior finishes are quite basic, consisting mainly of cut white stone, integrated into the on-site cast-in place wall units.

Recessed planes are cladded with grey granite while small areas between windows and balcony edges are cladded in aluminum.

We may say that the building's beauty lies in its logic of volumetric formation, almost regardless of any expensive finish materials.

Z Design Building
© Dana Polo
Z Design Building
© Dana Polo



Z Design Building
Plan
Z Design Building
Plan
Z Design Building
Plan
Z Design Building
Plan
Z Design Building
Section
Z Design Building
Elevation


Z Design Building
Sketch
Z Design Building
Sketch
Z Design Building
Sketch


Z Design Building
Concept
Z Design Building
Site Plan

Amir Mann - Ami Shinar Architects & Planners Ltd.
T +972 3 5621117 F +972 3 5620091
Amir Mann - Ami Shinar Architects & Planners Ltd.
Yigal Alon St 67, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel