Ohayon Residence – Bel Air California

Residence located in Bel Air, California; 1,200 square feet with 3 bedrooms, two bathrooms and roof terrace. Designed to maintain the natural slope of the site and maximizing views.

www.paolovolpis.com/OhayonResidence

Vertical Farm Building Prototype

 

Prototype development for Home Town Farms, a newly founded company with an innovative approach to regular farming. Home Town Farms will develop vertical farming for fresh organic produce above existing parking lots, parking structures or even roofs of existing buildings.

www.paolovolpis.com/Home_Town_Farms

 

Trieste Porto Vecchio

Proposed Master Plan for the Trieste Porto Vecchio – Italy

400,000 sq. meters dedicated to new businesses, University, and maritime offices;

Mixed use utilization of existing historical buildings for both hi/med and low income housing;

Docking areas for private use boats and yachts;

Green areas for recreation activities;

New canal promoting maritime transportation;

Museums;

Open theater;

Hotels, beaches and tourist entertainment areas.

To learn more about this new catalyst for the city of  Trieste, visit

http://www.paolovolpis.com/Trieste_Porto_Vecchio

Aerial View

Aerial view looking towards Stazione Centrale and Canal Grande

View of proposed Canal by new University building

Typical new construction intersecting with existing buildings

Design Concept – City Grid extending over water

New structure overlapping with existing buildings

Longitudinal elevations of new structures

Short elevation and Section of new structure

Sections

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STRANDHOUSE – Manhattan Beach

The Strandhouse and Strandbar in Manhattan Beach-CA, is a remodel of the previous restaurant Beaches.

Paolo Volpis Design Studio started working on the design of this new restaurant in October 2010 while the grand opening was on August 13 2011. The prime ocean front location, right in front of the Manhattan Beach Pier, required an extensive intervention on the existing building in order to maximize the ocean view from all the seating areas.

The remodel included a complete new planning of the building witha new interior layout, a new vertical circulation, an underground escavation for a wine cellar, two balconies, new larger elevator reaching the underground cellar from the kitchen, and a completely new structural system to accomodate the large amount of glazed surfaces.

The design process included few design variations: from a version with a nightclub on the ground floor and sustainable facade design, to a version with an open lounge at ground floor and completely glazed facade without shading devices, initially placed to minimize sun exposure and heat gain, without compromising the access of the fantastic views.

The design of the new glazed staircase, now placed strategically at the center of the building allows the ocean view also from the back portion of the building while the glazed walls  placed at the top balcony on Manhattan Beach Blvd. allow sunset views through the main restaurant floor (placed four feet below) even if the customers are enjoying the open air, sunny southern exposure.

The underground wine cellar is another dramatic feature of the Strandhouse. When entering the restaurant , the floor has some glazed openings which allow to see the large wine cellar which is also an  exclusive private dining room seating ten. When using private dining room, which is served directly by the elevator connected to the fourth floor where a brand new, state of the art stainless steel kitchen is located, the guest have views of the Strandbar Lounge through the illuminated glazed staircase which allows a visual connection to all the happenings from a very exclusive niche.

The facade of the building facing the Pacific Ocean is very minimal and not invasive when observed from the beach. The lower portion was treated with an ondulated random pattern of the windows bottom mullions to emulate the form of the ocean waves and sand. This pattern was the catalist in the design and layout of numerous elements inside the building, which include, but is not limited to lighting fixtures shapes and locations, bar counters design, tile patterns, soffit pattern design, wine cellar glazed ceiling structure, and more. See gallery below.

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To view the final product see gallery below, or just visit the Strandhouse in Manhattan Beach, CA

on 117 Manhattan Beach Blvd.

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Diva Kitchen

DIVA KITCHEN is one of the latest designs from Paolo Volpis Design Studio

DIVA is a super-compact “plug and play” kitchen that is designed for the main purpose of serving the needs of people living in very small apartments/studios. This population is quickly growing due to the continuous increase of social-economical changes that are tak¬ing place on a world-wide scale and range from increase in real estate costs and affluence to big cities, where the density is already very high, to the increase of single population.
DIVA is also very attractive because it is portable and easily relocatable, therefore it will be especially useful for individuals who do not have a lengthy permanence due to their profession.
DIVA is a fully functional kitchen, and is approximately the size of a double door closet; it contains standard appliances and small appliances to reduce overall costs, improve affordability and facilitate maintenance issues.
DIVA contains the following features:
• Refrigerator with freezer;
• Induction stove top with electric vent;
• Induction oven/ microwave;
• Sink with Faucet;
• Dishwasher;
• Dish Rack;
• Sliding cutting board;
• Space for small appliances like blender, toaster, and coffee maker;
• Storage space for pantry and kitchen silverware;
• Wine bottle storage;
• Transformer to change voltage;
• Power outlet;
• Counter lighting;
• LCD touch screen;
• Waste sorting bin.

DIVA works by easily opening, pulling, pushing, lifting, sliding, and rotating the compo¬nents needed. When fully closed, the kitchen’s components interlock to leave practically no residual empty space inside.
The kitchen can be completely open when preparing a full meal, or can be partially opened by accessing and using only those components that are needed while leaving the rest of the kitchen closed.
The kitchen is fully ergonomic; all of the appliances and accessories are easily accessible for practical use.
None of the components interfere with the use of others which allows for a harmonious and pleasant, yet very efficient use of limited space.

See movie, brochure, press release, spec sheet.

For motre info and gallery, visit DIVA site at  www.divakitchen.com

Hermosa Beach Modern Home

The Catalano Residence, designed by Paolo Volpis, is a 2,300 square foot steel home in Hermosa Beach, CA.
The project is very unique, in fact, the existing building, which is to remain, is a CMU block construction previouosly used as manufacturing facility. After a Zone change from M to R2, the new residential building was designed to infill the existing shell, which is built on the property lines. in this way, the owner could maximize the square footage of the new residence to take full advantage of a site located in a prime area but otherwise too small for a single family dwelling.
The new steel construction is meant to retrofit and support the existinng building, and also to support the new 3 stories building. The new shell of the building is designed around the setback lines and portions of the existing building will be preserved above the first floor to create handrails or supports for green walls facing the interior spaces. In such way, the design takes advantage of the existing building shell, built on the property line, to create privacy screens othervise not allowed to be built in these locations.
EcoSteel is providing a prefabricated steel kit of parts to the job site to meet this client’s aggressive construction timeline.
For more information about this design, visit the project webpage at  www.paolovolpis.com/Ardmore  or view the video animation.

 

 

 

Existing building layout. The red walls are to be demolished.

Remaining portion of existing building.

New steel structure assembled inside remaining portion of existing building.

New skin of building, connected with previous system.