Moto Designshop

USA

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PROFILE

Young practice Moto DesignShop Inc, was established in 2003 by principles Adam Montalbano and Roman Torres as a multidisciplinary firm “focusing on the design and marketing of architecture”. Montalbano and Torres combine a wealth of professional know-how, as well as experience in judging architecture for prizes and competitions, teaching and curating. Torres now acts as creative director of Pixelcraft inc., Moto Design Shop’s visual arts branch. When asked about their influences and inspiration, the architects replied: “We are continually amazed and inspired by the work of various Japanese residential architects practicing in urban environments. Other influential sources include film, sculpture, photography.” The practice swears by an approach primarily reactive to each commission’s context. “Although rooted in modernism, we have no preconceptions of style or theory. We believe each project has unique requirements therefore a “stylised” design is not always the most appropriate solution”, they explain. With a variety of residential commissions under their belt, they now aim to work more on commercial and cultural projects.

Cocoon House

Designed as an artist’s retreat, Moto Designshop’s Cocoon House was developed around two themes. On one hand, it was conceived as two structures, which intertwine, creating a spatial dialogue. On the other, the house’s strong context had to be taken into consideration and the house had to be protected when not in use. In order to accommodate both aspects, the structure features a wooden screen, which pulls away from the house when it is in use (at the same time creating a shaded car parking spot) revealing the shoreline location’s expansive views, and closes back into the original shape, when the owners are away.


http://www.motodesignshop.com

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