Articles by Andreas Luco

This compact house is divided into an open ground floor and an intimate upper storey.

The design of the AC Hotel Dallas by the Galleria is rooted in the abstract ideas of Catalan Modernism which finds particular significance by way of the AC brand’s Spanish heritage. Expressed using the sharp-edged geometries of the facade, the building simultaneously embodies the characteristic plasticism of the Catalan ethos and the pragmatism defining the Dallas lifestyle. With this design framework, the project seeks to catalyze a progressive architectural tone for the imminent redevelopment of the Dallas Midtown district and Dallas at large. The urban select service hotel is a keynote structure for the 4-billion-dollar pedestrian-oriented master plan. Prominently located at the corner of a future 5-acre central park, the hotel features 120 guestrooms, 10,000 SF of meeting facilities, and 10,000 SF of combined lounge, corner bar, study, library, and dining areas. The AC Hotel weaves at its corner with another hotel that is similarly scaled.

The site is located in a rural lot, and this specific plot is 240 x 44 meters and an important fraction is a hill with a steep slope and abundant native vegetation. The clients imagined a house that greatly favored family life, designed to give great importance to receiving their guests, and one where many different activities could coexist simultaneously.

“This time it is just simply my bedroom. To look at the picture ought to rest the brain or rather the imagination. The walls are pale violet. The floor is red tiles. The wood of the bed and chairs is the yellow of fresh butter, the sheet and pillows very light lemon-green. The coverlet scarlet. The window green. The toilet-table orange, the basin blue. The doors lilac. And that is all—” Vincent Van Gogh from a letter to his brother. Two directives were posed by the clients’ brief: house their collection of late 20th century artworks and design objects in spaces that compliment, but do not detract from their presence; accomplish this on a primary single continuous floor plane that allows for a graceful aging in place. Additionally, the client expressed a strong mistrust for open plans. Finally, site the project on a shallow, tightly constrained and steeply sloping site.

“This time it is just simply my bedroom. To look at the picture ought to rest the brain or rather the imagination. The walls are pale violet. The floor is red tiles. The wood of the bed and chairs is the yellow of fresh butter, the sheet and pillows very light lemon-green. The coverlet scarlet. The window green. The toilet-table orange, the basin blue. The doors lilac. And that is all—” Vincent Van Gogh from a letter to his brother. Two directives were posed by the clients’ brief: house their collection of late 20th century artworks and design objects in spaces that compliment, but do not detract from their presence; accomplish this on a primary single continuous floor plane that allows for a graceful aging in place. Additionally, the client expressed a strong mistrust for open plans. Finally, site the project on a shallow, tightly constrained and steeply sloping site.

Facing nature and framed by a vast vegetation of primaveras, parotas and papelillos, a terrain with two clearly marked axes that open in a trapezoid-shaped way, is displayed. With 12 meters on the front and an opening for up to 50 meters in the back, the proposal should solve the complexity of the lot, which arises the concept that projected Casa Kaleth. The design exposes a discreet front facade. In it, the variety of proposed and perfectly combined textures start to show up. A concrete “L” is placed and opposed over a permeable wood and crystal entrance, followed by a solid stone volume. The designed language in the back facade was directed to the contrary, where the answer was an invasion that collided with imposing and geometric bodies, which channel the user’s view to the landscape, creating a “telescope” effect in the phenomenology that is experienced when touring the house.