Known as Israel’s cultural capital, Tel Aviv has an architectural identity that is a tale of two cities. The sun-drenched secular metropolis is loved internationally for its bohemian Bauhaus treasures, with some 4,000 historic buildings scattered across the broad, verdant boulevards of its White City district.

Then there’s its less recognised postmodern legacy: perhaps best summarised by the 34,500 sq m spacescape of the Azrieli Centre – its epic trifecta of towers completed by Eli Attia & Yaski Sivan Architects just shy of the millennium, reflecting all the futuristic optimism of the late 90s through its design.

This split personality is soothed by Jaffa, the historical port just south of the city that has now become the go-to destination for Tel Avivian nightlife entertainment. Countless clubs and 24-hour art venues like the new Magasin III are setting a new standard for the city’s late night culture junkies.

Meanwhile, Israel’s startup scene continues to flourish in the ‘Silicon Wadi’ tech cluster surrounding Tel Aviv. Venture capital-friendly tax breaks introduced during the 90s through Israel’s Yozma business incubator programme combine with the warm weather and high living standards to encourage a more or less steady stream of tech outposts in Tel Aviv.

Giants like Facebook, Apple, and Amazon get cosy with specialist groups like WeWork, drone safety startup ParaZero and VR darling Magic Leap, all of which have bought into multiple floors of upcoming tower projects including Ron Arad’s ToHA development, Pitsou Kedem’s C6 Tower and the 72-floor Sarona Tower which nears completion.

Tel Aviv’s endless blue skies may yet have found their match in the city’s vertical expansion.

C6 Tower
Architecture by MYS Architects and interiors by Pitsou Kedem
2019

Tel Avivian architectural mainstays MYS Architects join forces with designer-favorite Pitsou Kedem to realize the $50m, 50,000sq m Acro C6 Tower. Climbing to 34 floors, the mixed-use tower will primarily consist of office units anchored by 3 floors of commercial activity. Conceived of as an art-architecture fusion, the Bauhaus-inspired structure will host its own art gallery, conceptual light installations, and bespoke carpeting as part of its interior design by Pitsou Kedem.

Rothschild Tower
Richard Meier & Partners
2017

A household name in the West, Richard Meier’s Bauhaus-inspired residential tower straddles the lengths of the famed Rothschild Boulevard, and bumps elbows with concurrent products of Tel Aviv’s current tech tower boom including the Sarona Tower and iconic Azrieli Centre.

ToHA Towers
Ron Arad
Scheduled for 2018

It’s rare for a 1.8 hectare site to become available in any city centre; British architect Ron Arad’s in-progress ToHA will grace its namesake, Totzeret Haaretz Street, in the heart of Tel Aviv near the bohemian paradise of Carmel Market. Nicknamed the ‘Iceberg’, its two office towers clock in at 28 floors and 63 floors, together offering 160,000 sq m of floor space. Still, the complex will remain light on its feet, supported by slim core ‘legs’ enmeshed within densely planted landscape.

Bein Arim Tower
Miloslavsky architects
2021

Whatever way you cut it – 100 stories, 400 m tall, or 150,000 m² of floor space – Bein Arim tower will be epic. Already building its reputation as Israel’s own Empire State building, the triangular-shaped structure will take root near the Savidor Central Railway Station at the eastern end of Tel Aviv. Its three sides will symbolically and financially link Tel Aviv to neighbouring Ramat Gan and Givatayim, as partnered cities in the project.

Tel Aviv School of Entrepreneurship
David S Robins (Robinsalliance) and Dan Price (Price Piltzer Yawitz Architects)
2016

Stationed like some industrial aquatic creature on the outskirts of Tel Aviv, the Adelson School of Entrepreneurship melds Mediterranean Bauhaus with factory-like exposed functionality. Fins of metal mesh and concrete shield the dark glazed glass façade, which allows a generous glimpse into the building’s inner activity. A suspended steel central staircase anchors the top three floors of classrooms and offices to the open public space and exhibition hall below.

Gordon Gallery
Gottesman Szmelcman Architecture
2017

Gordon Gallery’s third outlet in Tel Aviv is nestled on the southern fringe of the city, leaning into the adjacent gallery hotspot of Shapira. A glowing slab of concrete sandwiched between carpentry workshops and a zipper factory, the airy 165 m² space is intended to host a range of contemporary artwork.

Magasin III
Goldschmid Arditi Ben Naim Architects
2018

Swedish contemporary art museum and foundation Magasin III opened its Jaffa outpost in early 2018, taking the all-hours lifestyle of the city as its point of inspiration for a 24/7 programme. Tapping Israeli architects Goldschmid Arditi Ben Naim for the sophisticated renovation of the 100-year old building, Magasin III’s light-washed interiors never sleep, but mark a new dawn for Tel Aviv’s art scene.

Photography: Youval Hai

Arsuf Residences
Gottesman-Szmelcman Architecture
2017

Still, the techies gotta sleep too sometimes, and Western media outlets’ dominant typecast of Tel Aviv’s architecture scene as sleek modernist residential projects isn’t without reason. This razor-sharp residential complex by Israeli-Franco Gottesman-Szmelcman Architecture was built for the gated coastal community of Arsuf, Israel, just north of Tel Aviv. It offers stunning sea views and borders the scenic Apollonia National Park. Each of its ten apartments has its own unique layout and size, cultivating the sense of a mini-village.

Two villas designed by Richard Meier & Partners are the latest addition to the modern village of Oaks Prague in the Nebrenice countryside by Czech developer Arendon.

Featuring Meier’s signature large, bright spaces and clean lines, the villas are clad in white composite panels and cedar wood. In true Meier style, large expanses of glass make up the main façades, which were designed based on an architectural grid.

Referencing the pitched roofs of traditional Czech housing, these residences feature the contemporary equivalent, bringing together modern aesthetics and Meier’s geometric shapes, with an appropriate response to the requirements of the local planning codes.

‘Each villa is a complex yet simple composition of clean, straight lines and sharp edges’, says Meier. ‘It is a highly ordered study in balancing transparency and natural light with various degrees of privacy for a residence’.

A simple internal arrangement places the houses’ public areas on the ground floor, with more private rooms on the upper level. A sunken garden and rear terrace with a pool complete the outdoor space, creating, the architects explain, ‘a gradual transition between the house and nature’.

This will not be the first Meier building in the Prague vicinity - the ECM City Tower and the City Green Court, both housing offices, were completed in 2008 and 2012 respectively. Neither is this the only residential project by Meier in Oaks Prague; the design for his Oaks Frontline Apartments, which will be situated nearby, is yet to be revealed in full. However these two villas form the latest piece in the puzzle within the large scale development, which upon completion is set to also include 250 homes, a boutique hotel, and a wellness and spa center. Construction at the villas is set to commence mid-2018.

INFORMATION

For more information visit Richard Meier’s website

In Tel Aviv’s White City, a blanket of Bauhaus buildings unrolls across the neighbourhood like a pure, geometric, architectural picnic. And now, Richard Meier & Partners has added a sleek new addition to the UNESCO World Heritage Site – the practice’s first international residential tower and first project in Israel.

From the 1930s, the area was populated with white modernist blocks, designed by German Jewish architects who had escaped Germany during the Nazi occupation and settled in Israel. Meier’s new building was designed with this specific urban context in mind: ‘The design of the buildings in the White City made a deep impression on me when I visited Israel many years ago,’ Meier explains. ‘So to work in this context has been an aspiration of mine for a long time.’ 

Following Bauhaus design principles, the concrete building has a modular rectilinear emphasis, with a glazed façade layered with an aluminium gridded louvered screen. Described as a ‘veil’, the screen provides a graceful layer of protection to the apartments, a concept that was inspired by traditional Middle Eastern clothing.

Sitting at the prominent intersection of Rothschild Boulevard and Allenby Street, the 154m high tower – with 42 levels above ground – brings a new sense of scale to the low- to mid-rise district, but the colour and lightness of the louvered façade allow a cordial conversation with the neighbouring buildings. At street level, retail spaces are left open and transparent to reduce the upper mass of the tower, which rests on slim piloti.

With service space at the core of the building, large window frames at the outer perimeter of the volume prioritise light and views into the open-plan apartments where the sliding louver blinds can be adjusted, forming a privacy buffer to the city.

‘It is my hope that inviting the timeless quality of this city’s light and views into an open layout for the residences, a design we haven’t seen much here, will bring together the existing elements with a fresh perspective,’ says Meier.

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Richard Meier & Partners website

The Four Seasons Hotel at The Surf Club in Miami has been one of the most talked-about openings in recent times. The original Surf Club was founded by tyre tycoon Harvey Firestone in 1930. In its midcentury heyday it was the scene of beach-front misbehavings of the most exclusive sort. This was a club with closed doors, behind which anything could happen and much did. There were poolside fashion shows, late-night boxing galas, elephants at parties and booze on the beach during Prohibition. Visitors included Winston Churchill, Liberace, Frank Sinatra, Alfred Hitchcock and Mohammad Reza, Shah of Iran. It was a fantasy, a bubble, a world of its own.

More than 85 years later, and after a few decades of slumber, The Surf Club is reopening as the latest jewel in the crown of the Four Seasons group. The intrigue isn’t (yet) about the A-list guests and their antics, but instead the stellar collaborators who have brought a dormant legend back to life.

The grand revival has been far more than an exercise in signing up sellable design stars. It’s not enough just to commission big names – it takes skill and guile to get them to deliver their best work. In this case, the man marshalling the forces is The Surf Club’s owner, Nadim Ashi of developer Fort Partners. Ashi understands quality and knows how to build relationships that deliver it. He negotiated the purchase of The Surf Club from all 110 member-owners with the promise of giving it a new life that would do justice to its past glory. Ashi then brought on board the best of design’s best, and has coaxed greatness from them. ‘We haven’t let go of anything less than excellence,’ Ashi says. ‘We surrounded ourselves with difficult people who pushed us and we pushed them. If you have a grand vision, then you need the best people to execute it. If you create something unique, it will last: one of my favourite  fish restaurants in Byblos, Lebanon, has been around for 3,000 years.’

Pritzker Prize-winning architect Richard Meier has designed the 77-room hotel that cantilevers over the original 1930s Mediterranean Revival clubhouse, designed by Russell T Pancoast. It is  flanked by two 12-storey residential towers, also operated by Four Seasons and designed by Meier. Together, the complex is an exercise in discreet contemporary modernism.

‘There were so many spectacular stories to tell here,’ Dirand says. ‘There was a rich archive of photographs where you could feel the energy and the mood'

While Meier’s architecture serves as a vanishing backdrop, reflecting and disappearing into the endless Miami skies, it is Paris-based designer Joseph Dirand’s interior spectacle that brings The Surf Club experience to life for today’s crowd. Dirand peeled back the layers of time to restore the original detailing in the public areas, and he has reinvigorated them with cinematic splendour. The arched entrance hall, known as Peacock Alley, will surely soon be one of the world’s most Instagrammed interior spaces. ‘There were so many spectacular stories to tell here,’ the designer says. ‘There was a rich archive of photographs where you could feel the energy and the mood. Our aim was to capture that mood, but not copy the look. The public areas are where the feeling of the older building meets the architecture of the new – they should have the vocabulary of the original, but the language should be contemporary.’

Eateries are also in the hands of greats. In his  first foray outside the Amal  Coast, Antonio Sersale of Positano’s Le Sirenuse will helm the club’s restaurant. Thomas Keller of The French Laundry in California and Per Se in New York will also open a restaurant within the grounds, designed by Martin Brudnizki.

The hotel’s bedrooms tell a slightly different story to its more theatrical public areas. Dirand talks about the ‘silence of details, the play of light, shapes, shadows and colours in the rich views’. There’s a 1970s loucheness to the spaces, with splashes of green textile and veined stone contrasting with  fluted cast-plaster walls, coffered ceilings and white marble bathrooms. A custom-designed built-in banquette, with a travertine swivel table, adds a touch of maritime fun – ‘something glamorous and naughty’, says Dirand.

The breezy beachside cabanas were the heart of The Surf Club and they remain so in its new incarnation. Also designed by Dirand, the cabanas bring elements of the public areas together with the cool bedroom aesthetic: terrazzo  floors, rattan furniture and careful midcentury details. The combination of continuity in spirit and contemporary service will make this hotel experience a unique one. In the hands of Four Seasons, quality control should be carefully maintained, without losing the decadence and irreverence that gave the original Surf Club its soul. As Ashi puts it, ‘We live in times where people want to belong to something. Our business model is not real estate, it’s about memories of the past, in the present, for the future.’

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Four Seasons website

ADDRESS

9011 Collins Avenue
Surfside, FL 33154

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Our April issue heralds a cathartic return to a place much-loved by Wallpaper*, the Richard Meier Model Museum – the location for our ‘Geometry Class’ fashion story, shot by photographer Anna Alek. Capturing our model among Meier’s architectural designs, Alek channelled the tactile and liveable experience that models bring to the architectural practice.

The permanent 15,000 sq ft gallery designed by Meier at Mana Contemporary in New Jersey, a place we visited in 2014 when it opened, is where the history and style of the firm reveals itself in miniature form. Walking through the space, visitors can tour a breadth of Meier projects scattered across the globe, from the 1960s to the present.

Models of built and unbuilt projects have been curated by Meier himself, who often returns to the display, just to walk around. ‘It's interesting to me because it gives a kind of remembrance,’ he told W*, when the museum was located in its former location in an industrial space in Long Island City, New York.

Signalling the transition of a project from the imagination and drawings on paper to the physical realm, model making is a significant part of the architectural practice – the first dress rehearsal, if you like, when a building steps up for critique.

Some projects – such as Meier’s competition designs for the World Trade Center Memorial, New York's Avery Fisher Hall (now the David Geffen Hall), and the Bibliothèque Nationale de France – never progress beyond model stage; while others, such as Meier’s Getty Center in Los Angeles (the largest model in the gallery at 21ft x 37ft x 5ft), have gone on to become icons of design.

The creations featured in April’s shoot include several models of the Getty Center, the purpose of the maquettes communicating everything from topographical information to experimental architectural ideas, bridging imagination and reality.

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Richard Meier Model Museum website

ADDRESS

Richard Meier Model Museum
888 Newark Avenue
Jersey City NJ 07306

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Richard Meier’s iconic architectural work has inspired a 12-piece lighting collection, launching this week at New York gallery Ralph Pucci.

Designer Ana Meier collaborated with the American architect and with lighting master Hervé Descottes (founder of design firm L’Observatoire International) on the collection, the latter employing fine engineering to illuminate the sculptural pieces. Descottes notes how the triple collaboration was essential in bringing the project to life. ‘The work is a fusion of our three skill sets throughout the entire process,’ he explains. ‘The result is lighting that does not overlook any aspect, achieving perfect harmony with regard to the form, scale and excellence of light.’ Descottes blended the architect’s vision with Ana Meier’s sculptural forms, adding the latest technology to the pieces.

The collection, in Corian and glass, will be presented under the aegis Richard Meier Light. ‘With this collection,’ says Ana Meier, ‘we aim to bring the power of architecture to a smaller-scale, with objects that are interacted with everyday.’

The pieces from the collection recreate the shapes of the architect’s works: the 'Barcelona' lamp, for instance, is inspired by the sinuous forms of his Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art, designed by the architect in 1995 – the small-scale object cleverly highlighting the building’s refined shapes.

Another series, titled 'Cycladic', is inspired by geometry, with simple round and square sconces and a spherical hanging lamp. The collection is topped off with a trio of ‘Fire Island’ floor lamps, whose shapes are directly informed by the architect’s minimal house, built in 2014 on the New York beach.

‘Architecture has the power to inspire, to elevate the spirit, to feed both the mind and the body,’ explains Richard Meier. ‘With this collection, we have distilled this feeling into objects that touch people inside the spaces where they live.’

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Richard Meier Light website

ADDRESS

Ralph Pucci
44 West 18th Street
New York, NY 10011

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Bigger, bolder and more beautiful – it can only be our annual Global Interiors issue. From Canada to Brazil, China to Belgium, we’ve scoured the globe to bring together the finest furnishings from the world’s design hotspots.

Master artists and the internet inspire Martino Gamper and Brigitte Niedermair’s panel show for Dedar, as well as their limited edition cover for the April 2017 issue (available to subscribers). Elsewhere, paper turns over a new leaf at a Tokyo printworks, and our Picky Nicky sees the light with John Pawson in his latest column.

Meet some of the contributors to our April 2017 issue

We get exclusive insights from the man behind the Louvre Abu Dhabi, while gallerists John and Gretch Bergguren open up about their new San Francisco adventure. Thaddaeus Ropac advances to Mayfair with the launch of his London gallery, and photographer Mat Collishaw mines the 19th century for a new portrait series. French artist Xavier Veilhan flips the perfect crouton omelette in the latest of our Artist’s Palate series.

As ever, the issue brimming with architectural treats. Over in West Vancouver, Arthur Erickson’s Eppich House is a mindbending modernist treasure. Meanwhile in Antwerp, artists Luc Tuymans and Carla Arocha invite us for a tour of their Glenn Sestig-designed penthouse; and architect Eduardo Brito proves he’s ahead of the curve with a brave Brasilia bolthole.

Then, we’re camping it up at Villa Kampffmeyer – not to mention giving pearls a while. It’s all about model behaviour with Richard Meier in our main fashion story, and Ermengildo Zegna weighs in with a travel-friendly collection.

Finally, our Germany supplement explores the latest in the country’s daring design vision, from the best of Cologne Furniture Fair, to the latest Bahn stormers and Berlin’s specs appeal. Wunderbar!

INFORMATION

The April 2017 issue of Wallpaper* is out now. Subscribe here

Three leading starchitecture firms – Rafael Viñoly Architects, Richard Meier & Partners Architects and Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates – have joined forces to collaborate on Waterline Square, a new residential development occupying five acres of land on one of the Upper West Side's last remaining waterfront development sites along the Hudson River.

Brought together by national real estate organisation GID – due to its experience designing New York City buildings – the architects have each designed a unique tower block for the development.

While unique, the three buildings feature the same architectural lexicon of glass and specialised metal panels in rectangular shapes with stone bases, allowing their forms to feel like members of the same family. The stepped outdoor spaces form cascading ridges across the facades and each building has an irregularly faceted crown, with heights varying from approximately 370 ft to 450 ft.

Open green space and a park have been landscaped into the development design, linking it to the New York City grid and the adjacent Hudson River Greenway

At ground level, outdoor green space has been designed to flow through the masterplan, linking the buildings together and connecting them to the city and Hudson waterfront beyond. A park with a playground, fountains and waterfalls has been placed at the centre of the development to conjure the same sense of community found at the neighbouring iconic spaces of Hudson River Park, Central Park and Riverside Park.

Expected to complete in the second half of 2018, Waterline Square is part of the larger Riverside Masterplan, which began over two decades ago, designed to transform 77 acres of Manhattan’s Hudson River waterfront into a residential neighbourhood.

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Waterline Square website

Luxury real estate company Engels & Völkers is about to get a new home, courtesy of American architect Richard Meier and his team. Located within a new development in Hamburg’s HafenCity, the headquarters will share its building with a set of private and rental condominiums, also designed by the New York-based firm.

Launched as a joint venture between Quantum Immobilien and Engels & Völkers, the scheme, named Strandhaus, spans a total of 23 floors, of which 16 are offered as private residential. These include 66 separate apartment units, and a top level dedicated to two penthouses.

Paying just as much attention to the interior as to the exterior, the architects worked with open, generous residential spaces filled with light through floor to ceiling windows and ceiling height doors. Working with natural light and featuring clean open-plan spaces and soft colours – a Richard Meier signature – the project showcases the architecture firm’s trademark white tones in perfect alignment with the Engels & Völkers brand, which is also dominated by the same colour.

Amenities include a private gym. This is located on the high rise’s top level, offering long views of the Hamburg skyline, the Elbe river and the nearby port.

Meanwhile, the property company’s office space occupies 6,800 sq m of the building’s double-height entrance lobby, ground level and five first floors. The space will include the Engels & Völkers Academy. A further couple of levels above are reserved for rental apartments.

The mixed-use building is already in construction and set for completion in 2018.

INFORMATION

For more information, visit Richard Meier & Partners’ website

Revered for his clean, modernist style and a stunning portfolio of residential and commercial properties, Richard Meier is one of the world's most celebrated architects – and he has just revealed his latest offering. Not only the architect's first office project in Brazil, the Leblon Offices in Rio de Janeiro are also his first completed design in South America.

The project – led by associate partner Bernhard Karpf from Meier’s New York office – is, with its crisp aesthetic, a significant addition to Rio de Janeiro's diverse architectural backdrop. ‘The most interesting part of the process was discovering how our architectural ideas and strategies needed to respect and create dialogue with its context,’ explains Karpf.

Hosting the new international headquarters of Vinci Partners, one of Brazil’s leading alternative investment and asset management firms, the Leblon building comprises a series of private interior courtyards, open office spaces and a collection of terraces, spread over ten floors – three of which are subterranean. Meier and his team’s main aim was to connect the project to its context and Brazil’s architectural legacy of open, indoor/outdoor living.

‘The completion of the Leblon Offices is very special for our firm, as it represents our first completed building in South America and Latin America,’ says Meier. ‘Brazil’s architecture is very distinct from Latin America as a whole and diverse in itself – we are extremely honoured to complete a project within a country that has such a rich architectural heritage.’

A generous and bright lobby greets guests, appropriately welcoming them to the 74,270 sq ft space, featuring an abundance of glass, concrete and numerous vertical gardens. The building's eastern wing was slightly removed from its neighbours, allowing space for the several internal courtyards dotting the site and supplying light to all office areas. The impressive design was also led by specific sustainability and flexibility requirements, making this a truly efficient office space.

INFORMATION

For more information, visit Richard Meier & Partners' website

Photography: Roland Halbe

It’s difficult enough trying secure an appointment with a starchitect’s studio, but how about getting five of them to agree to work on your project? Our hats are off, then, to Phoenix Property Investors – a private equity real estate firm with a US$2.5 billion war-chest – for its newly launched development in Great Taipei New Town District. Set in a gated compound high on a mountain that’s framed by hills and views of Xue Shan and Yangminshan, The Master Collection is, despite its moniker, not a marketing hyperbole – not when it’s headlined by Richard Meier, Jim Olson, Annabelle Selldorf, Steven Harris and Calvin Tsao.

Each architect has been tapped to design one of the project’s 28 private freehold houses. The collection, says Samuel Chu, founding partner of Phoenix Property Investors, is the result of the marshalling skills of Tsao, who knew the other architects personally. Once all five architects were signed on, the details were pretty much left to them. ‘We trusted their expertise to be able to fully leave the creative liberty in their hands,’ Chu says.

The result is a set of harmonious designs – ranging from 6,400 to 13,700 sq ft with private pools and landscaping by Margie Ruddick – that slot seamlessly into the expansive natural landscape, but without losing the distinctive DNA of each architect. And so, Meier’s six villas are marked by his trademark white geometric contours, while Tsao shifts the angles of each storey to create an irregularly stacked design.

Prices start at around $5m for one of Selldorf’s houses. Olson’s five pied-a-terres, each of which includes a garden, start from $9m. The rest are scheduled to complete by the third quarter of 2018.

This is Phoenix’s first multi-architect project, though the group had previously worked with Tsao, and Skidmore, Owings and Merrill in Hong Kong. ‘We wanted to create something unique,’ Chu says, ‘a group of exceptional houses that could rank alongside the best residential projects in the world.’ We’re sold.

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Phoenix Property Investors website

'Usually when people enter a house, they expect the outside to be brought in, but in the Douglas House, the opposite occurs: you are transported outside, over the lake and into the trees. Visitors all depart with an experience they’ve never had before,' says Richard Meier, of his Lake Michigan masterpiece. Stitched onto the sharply gradiated slope of Harbor Springs, Meier's Douglas House is five storeys of architectural drama. Now, it has been given protected status, as one of the homes on the National Park Service's country-wide register of historic places.

But it nearly didn't get built at all. 'One day, I received a letter from a Mr and Mrs James Douglas,' explains Meier. 'They were enquiring if I would sell them the blueprints of the Smith House.' While Meier was not prepared to sell the drawings, he was willing to design a house for them along similar lines. They accepted, and Meier started creating a home for a site that they had purchased in northern Michigan. As it happened, the developer who had sponsored the site insisted on reviewing the design of any house that would be built on it. 'He asked me to submit photographs of my work, whereupon he immediately refused to permit a house designed by me since it did not have the prerequisite classic pitched roof. To my delight, the Douglases responded to this impasse by promptly selling the plot and looking for another site, and that was the beginning of a very gratifying collaboration.'

From here, Douglas House, as it became known, took shape. Similar to Smith House in colour and materials (wood frame, steel columns, glass), the new structure differs in its architectural make-up, due to the sheer gradient of the slope it clings to. The home is entered at roof level, where stunning westerly views are framed by stainless-steel smokestacks, and enjoyed by a roof deck stretching the length of the building. Lower levels are accessed by dizzying external staircases, which appear to levitate on the landscape. The house's five distinct levels are traced in the mullions of the glazing, reflecting the lines of the shoreline, lake and the distant horizon.

Now, thanks to its new status on the National Register, this residential rarity will be preserved to impress future generations – pitched roof or otherwise. 'We are deeply honoured by this historic distinction of the Douglas House,' Meier concludes. 'With all of the changes that are taking place in the world today, it is important that architecture continues to move us aesthetically, as great architecture always has.'

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Richard Meier & Partners Architects website

As if the tropical island of Honolulu in Hawaii couldn’t get any more alluring, this small patch of land in the Pacific Ocean is about to up its architecture credentials with Ward Village, a new 60-acre master-planned community currently under development midway between the downtown district and Waikiki.

Developed by the Howard Hughes Corporation, the Village features a roster of prestigious architectural talent, such as Richard Meier & Partners and Bohlin Cywinski Jackson. Introducing one million square feet of brand new residential real estate, built in environmentally-friendly surroundings, the development is Hawaii’s only LEED-ND Platinum-Certified project – the largest project within the US to receive such an accreditation, explain the developers.

The scheme is located just a stone’s throw from the most desirable part of the state’s largest island – just west of Waikiki in the Kakaako district. Residents will have easy access to the nearby Ala Moana Beach Park, with the ability to make use of its tennis courts, surfing, sailing and running facilities.

The village will be composed of five smaller projects, each created by a different team. The Gateway Towers, designed by Richard Meier & Partners, is located at the heart of the Village and consists of two residential high-rises providing approximately 236 homes. Facilities will include public living rooms, an ocean view fitness centre and infinity-edged lounge pools.

The Waiea tower by James KM Cheng Architects and WCIT Architecture takes its name from the Hawaiian word for ‘water’. It will contain 171, one-, two- and three-bedroom residences including ten regular penthouses, ten townhouses, and a single breathtaking $36 million penthouse.

The final three constructions – Anaha by Chicago-based Solomon Cordwell Buenz in partnership with Benjamin Woo Architects, Ae‘o by Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, and Ke Kilohana designed by AC Martin and Honolulu-based CDS International – help the Village’s residential offerings reach over 4,000 units, securing its reputation as one of the world's largest ongoing urban redevelopments.

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Ward Village website

Richard Meier's Smith house was one of the iconic American architect’s earliest forays into residential architecture. The Connecticut home, constructed for the Smith family and built between 1965 - 67, lies tucked away amongst the rocky landscape and greenery on the area's picturesque Gold Coast, situated within the small lakeside town of Darien. This is a breathraking location; and one that we couldn't resist exploring for one of our key fashion shoots for the March 2016 issue, entitled 'Between The Lines'.

This white, almost-ethereal construction proudly showcases Meier’s well-loved modernist minimalism and clean aesthetics. The property’s geometric layers of intersecting bright white planes, delightfully offsets the area’s surrounding foliage. This visual contrast produces a dramatic effect, highlighting Meiers’ ability to execute a sharp, yet beautiful juxtaposition of nature and architecture.

Within the three storey property, the living and sleeping areas are forged around a clear separation of public and private spaces. On the front facing side of the house, snug cubic rooms are dotted with strategically placed windows that make the best use of light, thus creating a comfortable interior.

The rear side, which overlooks the ocean and breathtaking cove below, boasts a delicate, transparent glass facade that allows light to flood into the communal areas of the house, seamlessly connecting the inside space with the outside environment and in result, creating a well-lit, vibrant place to relax.

The Smith House truly stands the test of time; fast approaching its 50th birthday, the construction still encapsulates effortless modernist elegance, confirming Meier’s unique creative vision, flawless execution and mastery of the complex balance of proportion and light.

The full fashion photoshoot at the Smith House can be found in the March 2016 issue of Wallpaper*

INFORMATION

For more information on the Smith House, please visit Richard Meier’s website

With its windswept beaches and immaculate golf courses, Baja California has become one of Mexico’s best-loved boltholes. The 33km stretch of coast near Cabo San Lucas is dotted with starry hotels and spas frequented by the Hollywood crowd and intrepid Europeans willing to make the trek. It’s worth it. The spa at the old-school Esperanza offers modern reworkings of ancient Mexican healing remedies; there’s an aloe wrap, a body mask using red clay from the surrounding desert, a coconut and Bajan lime exfoliation, and even a beer and lime facial.

At the nearby One & Only Palmilla, where the spa is made up of private villas with secluded courtyards, ingredients are equally indigenous. Compresses made from local herbs, chocolate oil, and obsidian hot stones are all designed to achieve máalob kuxtal (‘wellbeing’ in Mayan).

Across the Pacific, at Mi Xun, the spa at the Temple House Hotel in Chengdu, bespoke bamboo tools are used to exfoliate, cleanse and pamper. Located in a heritage building, the spa offers Parisian Thémaé products made from tea extracts.

Saunas and plunge pools are a highlight at the Chedi Andermatt spa in Switzerland, which also comes with a scented salt steam bath. Austrian brand Alpienne was called in to create a bespoke range of products based on plants and fruits from the surrounding Alpine slopes.

Last but not least is Matteo Thun’s spa for the Richard Meier-designed Falkensteiner Hotel Jesolo in Venice. It boasts indoor and outdoor pools and a private beach with outstanding views, while treatments range from bespoke Acquapura facials to cryotherapy.

As originally featured in the December 2015 issue of Wallpaper* (W*201)

Since Richard Meier’s rejuvenation of the historic Surf Club in Miami’s Surfside district was announced last year, the ambitious project has been hurtling towards completion with more features and amenities being added to it as the months have passed.

Helmed by Fort Partners, the development will include a 77-room hotel operated by the Four Seasons, a pair of 12-storey residential towers that will house 150 units (12 of which are penthouses), a private membership club, two restaurants, four swimming pools, a luxurious spa and fitness center, 40 beach cabanas and a park and oceanside gardens. The project is expected to complete by Spring 2016.

Today, we’re focusing on the Four Seasons Hotel Residences, which feature interiors designed by the French architect Joseph Dirand. Dirand has carefully composed 30 one and two bedroom units that distill the vibrancy of Miami, all in good taste, of course. To complement the panoramic ocean views, Dirand has used light woods and cream-coloured travertines in the apartments generously. Custom-designed lighting harks back to the elegance and decadence of the art deco and 70s era, while textured wall paneling subtly conveys the feeling of a rustic beach bungalow escape.

While South Beach is known for its glitz and glamour, Surfside has been historically cherished as a discrete haven where the powerful could let their hair down. Dirand has selected modern, classical furniture from Molteni & C, Knoll, Mater and Carl Hansen & Søn to fill each of the hotel residences, and tableware by Bernadaud, glasses and appliances by Bodum and Sambonet flatware to keep its kitchens well stocked. In the bathrooms, Michael Verheyden’s marble accessories are the perfect finishing touch.

The beautifully designed residences fall under the Four Seasons’ hotel residences programme, which owners can participate in to rent out their abodes, whenever they see fit.

INFORMATION
Website

ADDRESS

The Surf Club
9011 Collins Avenue
Miami

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Architects have long turned their hand to product design – from David Adjaye to David Chipperfield and Zaha Hadid – these A-listers have all occasionally thought small in scale and occasionally wiggly. (Yes, Frank Gehry, we’re looking at you!)

To mark our 200th issue, we decided to double our Power 100 into a meaty, two-ton Power 200; an upscaled calibration of design achievement. Or rather 100+100 (normal disservice will be resumed next year) – including the top 20 architects to turn their pencils to product design.

Rising in the ranks are the likes of master multi-tasker Antonio Citterio, great British minimalist John Pawson and the monochromatically stylish Richard Meier. Daniel Libeskind, Isay Weinfeld, Shigeru Ban and Toyo Ito feature prominently as well, pushing the boundaries of product and material ever further. There are also illuminaries like Nigel Coates, Jean Nouvel, Mario Bellini, Renzo Piano and Rem Koolhaas/OMA who have and pretty much done it all. While collaboration isn’t a requirement, many have turned their talents to similar brands, including legendary Italian brand Alessi which counts Peter Zumthor, SANAA, Norman Foster, Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas among their stylish ranks. 

Let the debate begin...

See the Power 200 in full here

INFORMATION
See the Power 200 in full

A new show at Chicago’s Mana Contemporary looks into the process behind some of Richard Meier’s most iconic work. 'Richard Meier: Process and Vision', which opens this weekend as part of the opening festivities of the very first Chicago Architecture Biennale, explores contrasts and different approaches within the architect’s designs and artwork.

Four of the practice’s seminal projects, the Getty Center, the High Museum of Art, the Canal+ Headquarters and the Arp Museum, as well as four of its most recent projects in the United States, Latin America, and the Middle East act as case studies in the exhibition, illustrating the special set of challenges an architecture project can encounter – be it social, environmental, technological or financial. Architectural drawings, sketches, and study models that explore the design processes, which helped overcome such challenges, are a key part of this show.

Art complements the architecture. Celebrating the iconic architect’s international body of work, this exhibition also features displays of mixed-media silkscreen prints created by Meier himself, blending art and design. Rich in colour and detail, the artworks seem to almost contradict the architect’s signature clean lines and neutral palette – they are, however, an invaluable piece in the development of each project and offer a unique insight into the architect’s exploration of forms and design strategies. 

INFORMATION

'Richard Meier: Process and Vision' opens tomorrow and is on view until 30 January 2016

ADDRESS

Mana Contemporary
Chicago 2233 S. Throop Street
Chicago, IL, 60608 

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Pritzker Prize-winning architect Richard Meier will be joining the growing list of top-flight designers with new and upcoming projects in the Taiwanese capital of Taipei. Officially announced today and slated for completion in 2017, the 127-meter CDC Xin-Yi Residential Tower will mark Meier's first foray into the bustling metropolis of two-and-half million. 

Renderings from the firm reveal a tower very much in the familiar Richard Meier & Partners signature style, reminiscent of popular projects like their Perry Street condos in New York and Rotschild Boulevard tower in Tel Aviv. A slender gridded shaft rising from a glassed-in rez de chaussée, Xin-Yi sports the firm's trademark rhythmic, reticulated  façade  in the firm's favourite color, a gleaming white.  

But for Taipei, the building represents a significant break from much that's preceded it. 'What makes this project different than other projects here is first the approach defined by the site is to make the site "public",' notes the firm's senior associate Stefan Scheiber-Loeis. The landscape immediately fronting the tower will be open to all, the first such hybrid private-civic park space in the city. Not only that, adds Scheiber-Loeis, but "the curtain wall exposes the entire south facade towards the main street," giving the high-rise a more open, welcoming urban presence than has been typical in the city's streetscape to date. 

In recent years, Taipei has seen major commissions go to architectural luminaries like Richard Rogers and Zaha Hadid; Meier himself is already working on two other projects in Taiwan, though not in its largest city - also this tower will be the first one to complete. The surge in international talent seems a bid by the island to keep pace with the building boom in nearby mainland China, and Meier's client, the Continental Development Corporation, was determined to create a project that would stand out in the crowded East Asian marketplace. CDC 'gave Richard Meier & Partners so much freedom in the design and honored our design principles,' says Scheiber-Loeis, 'without giving up on their expected end result.'

A new exhibition on the work of New York-based Richard Meier & Partners Architects is set to open at the Ulm Stadthaus Exhibition and Assembly Building in Ulm, Germany on 8 July. 

'Picture, Tower, Building – Richard Meier and the Ulm Minster' is a retrospective on the lauded American architect, whose mannered use of natural light and sensitive spatial awareness – 'creating sublime spaces of aesthetic illumination and enlightened cultural values' – has made him one of America’s most respected contemporary practitioners for the past half century. He is a winner of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, and has received Gold Medals from both the American Institute of Architects and RIBA. 

The exhibition – which runs until 22 November – includes original models, sketches, schematic drawings and photographs of past Meier projects, including the Smith House in Darien, Connecticut; the house he designed for his parents in Essex Falls, New Jersey; Mexico City’s Reforma Towers; and unbuilt competition proposals for the New York Historical Society and Madison Square Gardens. 

Inevitably, the main draw of the show is the Ulm Stadthaus itself – a project completed 22 years ago, ‘conceived as a programmatic and cultural complement to Ulm’s Münsterplatz and the historic mass of its cathedral’ and which Meier posits as wholly representative of the eponymous firm’s design philosophy. 

‘While architecture is forever providing us with volumes about where we have been, it is at the same time offering us clues about where we may still be able to go,' the architect explains. 'It is an honour to have some of our early and current projects on display in a country where we are about to start several new architectural projects.'

ADDRESS

Ulm Stadthaus Exhibition and Assembly Building
Münsterplatz 50 89073
Ulm, Germany&a

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While Miami Beach's coastline continues to rumble architecturally, an enticing new project is currently underway 20 minutes north in the quaint, low-rise beachfront neighbourhood known as Surfside. With respect to its high-rise neighbours - buttoned-up Bal Harbor to the north and the glitizier, rowdier Miami Beach to the south - Surfside seems cosy and sleepy; but an ambitious new development helmed by Fort Capital at the iconic Surf Club is set to revitalise the area.

The Surf Club, a historic 1920s landmark property set on a nine-acre Atlantic ocean front property, was once a glamorous hidden playground for celebrities such as Elizabeth Taylor, Ava Gardner and Dean Martin. Not only will the original Russell Pancoast-designed property be completely restored, but Pritzker prize-winning architect Richard Meier has been charged with designing a new 80-room hotel, as well as two residential towers that will feature 157 private residences.

Meier's building designs dwarf its surrounding architecture but he calls his designs 'a continuum'.

'At the Surf Club the Mediterranean style architecture has a beautiful scale and, in that way, is very much related to what we [are] doing here. The scale relationship, the human feeling of moving through the spaces will be very similar.'

The two 12-storey towers, featuring homes and penthouses with private gardens, pools and elevators, also feature interiors designed by Meier. The unifying strategy he says, is the introduction of natural light, the creation of visual corridors, and a priority on opening spaces up to the water.

'The residences at the Surf Club are in many ways related to early houses that I have done, such as the Smith House and the Douglas House, where there is a two-storey living space, a great deal of transparency, and an openness. They will offer the feeling of living in a unique house four or five storeys above the ground,' the architect explains.

The magnitude of this project is the most major thing Surfside has seen in decades. But Fort Capital's CEO, the maverick developer Nadim Ashi, has no plans to transform the Surf Club into a noisy, South Beach-style party zone.

'The provenance of the club, and its wonderful history were unique things that I wanted to preserve and enhance,' says Ashi. 'We're creating something that will be intimate. It's only 150 residences on almost 9 acres, so our density is actually quite low.'

Apart from lassoing Meier, Ashi also brought on Joseph Dirand to design the interiors of the hotel, which will nod to the era that the Surf Club was born. He has also inked a deal with the Four Seasons Resorts to run the hotel property as a five star establishment, and to offer a complete range of concierge services to residents. People staying in the tower property will be granted access to all facilities at the Surf Club, including its restaurants, spa, swimming pool and 815 ft of white sand beach. Surf Club members, meanwhile, will have to wait to access their beloved club again: the property won't be completed until 2016.

Paying tribute to iconic architect Richard Meier on the occasion of his firm's 50th anniversary, the Fondazione Bisazza presents the exhibition 'Richard Meier: Architecture and Design', which opens today at the Bisazza HQ in Vicenza, Italy. 

The show includes a selection of the architecture grand master's most influential works, shown with the help of fifteen models, more than thirty technical drawings, forty photographs and a bevy of concept sketches. Lesser-known products designed by the firm, such as a tableware collection designed for Reed & Barton in collaboration with Swid Powell, will also be on display.

Taking centre stage are some of the architect's most well known projects, such as the Getty Centre in Los Angeles and the Jubilee Church in Rome but also recent work such as the Italcementi HQ.

Also being unveiled alongside the exhibition is a brand new site-specific installation that Richard Meier & Partners has designed for the non-profit organisation's permanent collection. Fondazione Bisazza is already known for its extensive collection that includes work from prominent designers such as Alessandro Mendini and Jaime Hayon. Its Montecchio Maggiore galleries will now be enhanced with Meier's new work, which is entitled 'Internal Time'. The piece is a geometric garden, a 'stylized wood of imposing vertical elements in white mosaic' where the visitor can wander through or sit down and enjoy in meditation. 

The multi-award-winning architect's accolades include the coveted 1984 Pritzker Prize for Architecture, while the firm's list of ongoing work features residential projects in Europe, Asia and North America and hospitality and commercial projects in Mexico and South Korea. 

ADDRESS

Viale Milano, 56
36075 Montecchio
Vicenza, Italy

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Richard Meier & Partners' new Italcementi I.Lab is one of the architecture practice's most sustainable designs - and the first building with LEED Platinum accreditation in Italy. The research and development centre is the latest addition to the empire of Italcementi, one of the five biggest cement and concrete producers globally.

Here, Meier's signature graceful, simple white forms are articulated (unsurprisingly) in concrete, cannily demonstrating the range of qualities the material can offer. The building's gleaming surface won't weather - this particular concrete 'is self-cleaning and therefore will always be white', the architect points out.

Designed to support the company's leading technological research and concrete innovation team, the building has a V-shaped layout, following the triangular site. This way, the technical and administrative wings - featuring high-performance custom facades - form a central outdoor space for the employees.

Addressing eco-issues such as water efficiency, energy (via photovoltaic panels, solar panels and geothermal wells) and sustainable materials and resources, the centre also includes conference rooms, a two-story multipurpose hall and an impressive top-lit cantilevered boardroom. The team paid special attention to the roof, treating it as a fifth façade. Here, a system of skylights brings natural light into the offices, labs and circulation space, also creating a playful perforation when seen from above.    

Richard Meier & Partners - led by Meier, Michael Palladino, James R Crawford, Bernhard Karpf, Reynolds Logan, Dukho Yeon - may have reached the grand age of 50 this year but it's showing no signs of slowing down. Among its works in the pipeline, we're particularly looking forward to seeing the practice's first project in South America - an office building in Leblon, Rio de Janeiro - reach its completion.