Machiel van Dorst
Form follows behavior, so a good building facilitates events. My feel good building is however eventless, so the building can take all the credits and becomes a sculpture on itÃs own. Pavilions are legitimate sculptures because the lack of programs or technical or climatically restrictions. My feelgoodbuilding is the German Pavilion of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in Barcelona. It Ãs a perfect walkthrough sculpture. ItÃs combines fine with raw materials with high tactile quality (onyx, travertine and polished chrome). It opens en closes towards the environment and the plainness of the easy flowing space gives a peace of mind. The indoor climate is the outdoor climate of a Barcelona park, combined with the smell of still water. It is funny, but the smell of the water gives me pleasant memories of Asian cities. The object quality is reinforced by the fact the building is ones demolished and rebuild 57 years later. This capacity to disappear is a form of humility I like in a building.
Hal Levin
"In Thoreau's own words:
"Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity."
This was a sustainable home, built to be low impact and no bigger than it needed to be.
Thoreau said he did not need a library because he did not read, he hoed beans.
It was built by a pond so it didn't need plumbing pipes - no lead, no copper, no zinc, no pvc, no pollution!"
Jesse Plas
"This airport has an atrium with endless paths you can roam around. The indoor space makes you feel like you're in a forest."
Reference photo: National Geographic
Klinphaka Keawcharoen
A traditional Thai house (Thap Khwan Palace); There is a common area which is a big terrace in the middle of the house. From the picture, there are 3 of feeling good things. TREE creates some shade, shadow and reduces heat from the sun to the whole area, and then the terrace becomes a comfort zone. SPACE UNDER THE AWNING is a pathway between terrace and the private room. People always use as same as the terrace in case that the terrace is too hot. The floor is raised from the terrace about 40 cm to be a chair and air-intake for cool down the hot temperature in the house. MATERIAL AND CONSTRUCTION; Thai house is made by natural material such as wood board and roof clay tiles. To construct Thai house, we use only pins and pegs to join the boards together. It is easy to build but strong and comfortable.
Ipek Akgoz
Kitchen is the heart of the house. It always welcomes you with its warming atmosphere and delectable smell... It is the place that conversations are always keep going.
Jing Zhang
This is a transitional space between the dark staircase space and the room full of light it is leading to. The change of illumination level in the two space is done subtly by introducing natural light to inside from windows - they are arranged to posses full range of the wall in a horizontal manner that well frame the trees outside. The space is generous as a transitional one for stairs, as it is big enough for good natural ventilation and leaves you a comfortable place to stand next to the window and look to the outside view. The windows, dived into several operable ones, provide the possibility to control temperature and ventilation speed in different situations. The not so beautiful heater, well hidden in the shadow, also leaves the outside view the major role in this space.
Juriaan van Meel
The "Van Nelle" factory is a master piece of Dutch architecture that has proved to be functional over time. Once it was a factory for tea and tabacco. Now it accommodates small companies from the design sector. Inside you can still feel the light and air; atmosphere that was so exceptional at the time when the factory was built. I admire the building because it has 'character'. Character is a quality that is hard to grasp, but it is certainly a quality that is not often found in new buildings. Buildings like this (coverted warehouses, factories, etc.) should get more attention from both the academic and professional world to tease out design principles that help to improve new design.
Martijn van Straaten
"There is no place like home. Although this house is for sale and I will move to another house, my feelgoodbuilding will always be home.
Decoration is your own style. It's personalized to your wishes. And the people and animales that are in the building are the ones you love.
Next to that it can be used as a working environment. When I would feel better at an other place, I would be thinking about problems at home. For me the most important aspect of ""feeling good"" is the People with whom you share the place, and there state of ""feeling good""."
Albert van der Sar
"The most important for my feelgoodbuilding is it's location. The rest is less important.
Very important is the protection that the feelgoodbuilding offers. Obviously interrelated with the location (safe environment or not) and my activities.
During holidays I love sleeping in a tent or in a (thick) sleeping bag (max clo) outside. Under the stars, next to a warm fire, with the noise of night animals in the background, half drunk. That sums up pretty well what the ingredients for my ultimate feel good experience are. Of course after a few weeks I get fed up with that (after a while rather impractical) and enjoy going back to a real roof over my head.
Another feelgood environment of interest is the Finnish sauna (minimum clo) or swimming outside in a (heated) swimming pool.
My ultimate feelgoodbuilding is a building with contrasts. Not same - same everywhere. But for example nicely heated areas (e.g. in the living room) next to more chilly parts (e.g. halls and bedrooms). Light areas (e.g. in a serre) combined with dimmed light in the living area and darkness where I sleep. Some parts with a ceiling height of 2.40 meter. Other parts with a height of 3 meter or more with high placed windows for spectacular daylight penetration.
How the building looks? I like fun and something strange is welcome.
Examples that come close to my ultimate feelgoodbuilding are: The Pantheon in Rome, TWA Saarinen in New York, the Kruisheren church in Maastricht and the Evoluon in Eindhoven."
Arjen Raue
The journey through the mountains of Graubunden ends in the rocks. The building is a block of rough, grey, local stone in which the spaces are cut out like caves. The ceilings, the walls, the floors are pure rock; they belong here. Stone looks like stone and wood looks like wood. When you pull the lever of a shower you get what you expect: a drowning flush of ice water. The light is dim, but sufficient to find your way. Daylight strikes the granite surfaces and accentuates the building's structures. In each area the visitor is actually aware of it's specific mix of temperature, humidity, sound, lighting and smell. This mix determines the room, for instance in the cave where you sit down and sweat in a dark and foggy room, incredibly hot, where no wall is visible, only faint orange light and steam.
It is very very quiet inside. The only thing you hear are the birds from outside. A very meditative place indeed. The spaces are empty and ordered like a painting of Mondriaan. No furniture except for a few paintings, a couple of cushions and a few vases with Ikebana. Balanced natural lighting partly with the help of translucent rice paper doors. Extraordinary interaction between the Zen garden and the interior, open facades when wanted, closed when needed.
Ewelina
"This is the Red Auditorium in the movie theater in Krakow called Kino Pod Baranami.
The cinema, situated in the Palace at the Main Square, was founded in 1969 and the history of the the building can be still felt inside.
Especially in the Red Auditorium. Red velvet armchairs, dim light from chandeliers and decorated wooden ceiling create a nostalgic atmosphere.
The dimensions of the room, materials and colours (also hidden technical equipment like speakers and air conditioners) make me feel intimate in this interior
and affect the image and sound of the film. The cameral surrounding helps to experience and focus more on a movie.
It feels like moving back in time to the era of black and white pictures."
