August 1, 2023
The interview with the architect and winner of the Pritzker Prize, Toyo Itō, and the follow-up of the 14th Porcelanosa Awards and the PIPA 2023 awards will complete an issue that can be found in any Porcelanosa store around the world.
The new issue of Lifestyle magazine reviews the most important milestones that have taken place so far in 2023 under the Porcelanosa umbrella. The most outstanding projects, interviews with internationally renowned professionals, monitoring of competitions and a special report on the 29th PORCELANOSA Group International Exhibition are just some of the topics that the reader will be able to find in the pages of this issue.
The first of the events featured in issue 42 of Lifestyle magazine is the 14th Porcerlanosa Awards ceremony. The event took place on 11 May at the Mandarin Oriental Ritz Hotel in Madrid and brought together leading professionals in architecture, design and real estate development from all over the world. Lifestyle has prepared a complete article with images of the gala, as well as an analysis of the main award-winning entries.
The other major them taking centre stage in Lifestyle is the Porcelanosa International Project Awards (PIPA), which were presented on 8 June in London's iconic Hanover Square. An intense week full of events in which architects and designers from all over the world were invited to present their best projects featuring Porcelanosa materials.
Along with the Porcelanosa Awards and the PIPAs, the 29th Porcelanosa International Exhibition occupies an essential space in this issue, reviewing the different novelties of the seven firms and highlighting all the actions that were carried out on the occasion of the firm's 50th anniversary.
Architect and 2013 Pritzker Prize winner, Toyo Itō reviews his career in a comprehensive interview. For more than 40 years at the head of his studio (Toyo Ito & Associates Architects), which the Japanese genius defines as a "fusion of architecture and nature".
Awarded the Honorary 2023 recognition at the 14th Porcelanosa Awards, Itō stresses the need to recover "the close relationship between nature and architecture" to solve the problem of sustainability.
In this new edition, Lifestyle takes a closer look at the most outstanding projects carried out with materials from the Group's different companies. A worldwide selection of recently completed projects including hotels, single-family homes, large developments and commercial spaces.
Under the title "A journey to the past with contemporary luxury", Lifestyle visits the emblematic Canfranc railway station in the Aragonese Pyrenees to relive its original splendour from a contemporary, local and innovative perspective. A building remodelled by the Royal Hideaway Luxury Hotels & Resorts brand and declared an Asset of Cultural Interest in 2002, its design is inspired by the aesthetics of old stations and luxury long-distance trains.
In this issue, Porcelanosa's Lifestyle magazine brings together several projects that stand out for their innovative architecture. The first of these, NIU Houses, is a global response to the new challenges of modern construction. The Fran Silvestre Arquitectos team, together with Butech and Krion, has developed a modular house system that makes the building process more sustainable. The result is single-family homes integrated into their natural surroundings, with reduced construction times, a closed budget, and greater energy efficiency.
Meanwhile, the immediate impact of The Crown makes it a new icon for the city of Taipei. The revolutionary white exoskeleton of this luxury residential complex, designed by the ON-A studio in collaboration with Butech and Krion, gives the building a special personality. A benchmark in Taiwan's capital that will surely set a trend in current architecture.
The finishing touch to this section comes in the form of a comprehensive article in which innovation takes over the façades of The Leyton, Ontier, Helensburgh Leisure Centre, Tangram House South and Chic Boutique Hotel.
The third part of Lifestyle's project section in issue 42 has a very strong personality. The designs bear the stamp of their designers and are quickly recognisable at first glance. This is the case with Casa Madrigal, a residential complex designed by Ramón Esteve, which stands out for its selection of natural materials. The origin is developed from a series of boxes containing the programme and light courtyards, sewn between two horizontal platforms that delimit the space. As Esteve explains: "The house is confined within stone walls as an enclosure, where an intimate space is created in which a universe of its own is constructed."
Similarly, the Torres Blancas building, a brutalist icon designed by Javier Sáez de Oíza in the 1960s, becomes the setting for a refurbishment using avant-garde materials and sinuous forms. STUDIO.NOJU is responsible for a 400 m2 apartment that establishes a dialogue with the building where the original elements become the starting point.
Finally, the new PORCELANOSA Group showroom in Guangzhou offers a sensory experience that allows you to get to know all the possibilities of its products and materials. A simple yet elegant work by the ZHJS-DESIGN studio that invites you to reconnect like nature.
Borja Vázquez, president of Scalpers, details in a very interesting interview the evolution of the brand with the skull and crossbones, inclusing all the steps it has taken since opening its first shop in Madrid in 2007 to become a global firm. All of this without losing its social and collaborative vision. With Pirates For Good, Vázquez aims to "return to the community what he has undoubtedly received from it."
The Salaam Centre brings Lifestyle issue 42 to a close. A modern, sustainable and energy-efficient building in North Harrow, London, which, as well as celebrating Islamic cultural heritage, will also be a meeting place. Designed by the international studio Mangera Yvars Architects, the ground-breaking design of The Salaam Centre surprises with its spectacular white façade made of Krion® using Butech's C-Bolt industrialised concealed anchoring system.
The magazine can be purchased at any Porcelanosa Store and through this link.
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