Cool Design News

Cool Design News featuring great design, architecture, fashion, graphics and innovation from across the globe.

 
Hangzhou Haishu School

Hangzhou Haishu

Hangzhou Haishu is a school complex that combines a kindergarten and a primary school. The campus includes teaching buildings, an administration building, a gym and a canteen. All functional spaces are linked in series by corridors and inner courtyards with different degrees of openness. Exposed stairs and dynamically shaped corridors serve both circulation and activity. The design was inspired by a child drawing of an ideal school seen as a small town. The campus of 28000 square metres is divided into 15 small gabled volumes, and each volume grows in scale with the age of the children.

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Rozna Restaurant

Rozna

Rozna is the only fine-dining Omani restaurant in Oman that is modeled like an ancient fort. From the exterior, it looks like a fort, and inside with a spacious central courtyard, it is reminiscent of a castle. The bright center courtyard is the main dining area that can accommodate more than 100 guests at a time. Additionally, there are 30 private rooms including 2 VIP rooms for those families and groups that prefer privacy. These rooms cater to groups large and small, in traditional settings.

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Bamboo Pavilion Public Bathroom

Bamboo Pavilion

Bamboo Pavilion is a public bathroom in Taipa Grande Hill Park in Macau, created through the renovation of an enclosed facility. The new building reuses the existing structure and foundation, so the footprint remains unchanged. The facade reinterprets the bamboo scaffolding long used in Macau. Hundreds of white aluminum tubes are staggered around the building to form a translucent shell. Daylight passes through the shell into the interior, while preserved skylights and tailor-made slanted windows with integrated openings improve cross ventilation. The renovation was completed in two months.

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Midea Heyou International Hospital

Midea Heyou

Midea Heyou is a hospital designed for Shunde District in Foshan, China. The hospital serves as a comprehensive medical center, moving from a treatment led approach to a health led approach for the whole community and the whole life cycle. The design is inspired by the local water town landscape and its crossing rivers. Courtyards and sky gardens bring sunlight, fresh air and greenery indoors. A diagrid facade and a roof with an integrated solar energy system reduce energy use. A modular layout allows the medical units to change over time.

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Wacai Headquarters Office Building

Wacai Headquarters

Wacai Headquarters is an office building in Hangzhou, China, designed as a green and sustainable structure. The cylindrical form is oriented north to south and is interwoven with skyrise gardens. The shape brings natural light into the office spaces, which reduces the use of artificial lighting. Extensive landscaped areas across the site help to offset carbon emissions and to regulate the ambient temperature, lowering the reliance on climate control systems. The circular plan also uses fewer wall, floor and roof materials, giving a smaller ecological footprint.

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Gilak  Villa

Gilak

Gilak is a villa designed for the humid climate of Gilan in northern Iran. The main mass of the building is formed around a central void, which is open on all floors from four directions and allows airflow and moisture to leave the interior. A corridor surrounds the building and prevents air confinement. Extended gables control direct sunlight in hot seasons. Sloping roofs on all four sides collect rainwater for reuse and offer a continuous surface for photovoltaic panels. The plan follows a nine-square geometry drawn from traditional Iranian architecture.

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