Envisioned for the coastal town of Limassol in Cyprus, a wild apartment tower concept has round swimming pools sprouting almost organically from the facade on all sides. Developed by the French firm Hamonic + Masson, the Limassol Tower grants every unit in the building its own private pool.

Clusters of platforms and sun shades at ground level continue the pattern, so that from above, the complex looks like a colony of spores or mushrooms (or maybe a juggling act of dinner plates that’s dangerously close to crashing to the ground?)

“The volume’s transparency means unobstructed sea views are maximized. A sliding glass door is the only element separating living areas from the balconies, meaning the feeling of being outside is possible simply by opening the window. On the ground floor a regal entrance opens the doors to a unique living experience.”

“We seek to enhance quality of living by offering a range of amenities: an underground fitness zone illuminated by natural sunlight, an art gallery on the ground floor and a premium spa on the first floor, all with independent entrances. Wellbeing and luxury combine to create an exclusive living experience.”

The architects say they wanted to capture the “natural splendor” of the environment with their design. Rising about 180 feet into the air, the building features 19 luxury apartments, some with views of the sea.

Few people would argue with the allure of having your very own private swimming pool just outside your door, but one wonders how the engineering of this structure would actually play out. Is this a realistic concept that could actually be built, or yet another fantasy project that just doesn’t translate into real life? Feel free to chime in if you know. It’s certainly an interesting departure from the standard seaside apartment building, at least.

A proud chapter in the story of American industry came to a close when an abandoned paper mill in Richmond, VA was re-purposed into loft-style apartments.

Richmond, a city of approximately a quarter-million, is the state capitol of Virginia and the former capitol of the Confederate States of America. Founded in 1737, Richmond has long been a center of economic activity though some of its more traditional industrial pursuits – railroads and tobacco processing, for example – have largely given way to post-industrial profit hubs in the legal, financial and governmental sectors.

Pulp Friction

In 1880, the world’s first cigarette-rolling machine was invented roughly 200 miles west, in Roanoke. One might surmise that this abandoned paper mill, photographed by Joel Handwerk of Lithium Photo, produced rolling paper for the local tobacco firms. Smoke ’em if you got ’em!

That’s just an educated guess, mind you. As the photographer paid a visit to the site long after the mill’s machinery had been removed, actual day-to-day functions at the factory are no longer obvious.

Hard Cover Story

Still, it’s hard to disguise a paper mill. “The overall structures have a layout that is consistent with the manufacturing purpose,” confirms Handwerk, who fortuitously chose to carry out his mission of urbex photo-documentation on a bright, sunny day.

“The upper floors are wide open and feature yellow safety pillars and painted-over window panes,” the photographer adds. Enough natural light does manage to get through, however, while the blacked-out windows provide contrasting shadows and dark backgrounds. Handwerk’s images explode off the monitor screen in a dramatically detailed succession of interior scenic vistas.

The Paper Choice

“The basement level provides access to an area that feels somewhat like catacombs,” mused Handwerk, who presumably escaped the aged structure well before twilight fell  and the graveyard shift punched in. A wise move, to be sure – abandoned buildings hide a host of dangers at any hour of the day or night, and it’s not as if anyone’s overseeing what you step onto, into, or off of.

Other hazards urbex hobbyists need to be cognizant of include slick oily floors, rotted wood staircases, loose or missing railings, exposed nails, toxic black mold, unremediated asbestos, and corrosive spilled and/or leaking chemicals just to name a few. Some of those hazards were less obtrusive when Handwerk conducted his photo shoot as the former factory had already been extensively gutted.

Bound and Determined

Kudos to Handwerk for not revealing the building’s name and exact location in Richmond. Sure, graffiti has its place as both an art form and as a valid means of cultural expression but time and time again, graffiti is accompanied by pointless vandalism and destructive metal salvaging. The damage can’t always be attributed to the graffiti artists directly but all too often it occurs in conjunction with their activities.

“This structure is currently being renovated into apartments,” according to Handwerk, quoted from the time he took and posted these images. Residential loft-style apartments now occupy the renovated remains of this former paper mill.

Book Marked

One clue to the former mill’s identity can be found at the Facebook account of The Paper Company Apartments, located on Hull St in Richmond’s Old Town Manchester district. Check out the brickwork in Handwerk’s photo above, and the wall depicted on the front page of Property Results LLC‘s website for The Paper Company Apartments below.

Note the presence of occasional pale blue and orange-tinted bricks common to both images. Coincidence? Perhaps – or perhaps not. In any case, it’s good to see this rough old relic of industrial Richmond make a successful leap from economic engine to residential retreat, hopefully inspiring further efforts at industrial rehabilitation. And that’s a wrap. (all images © 2017 Joel Handwerk)

A Swedish design studio aims to bring new functionality to a century-old bridge in Stockholm, fitting 50 residential units into the framework below while creating a pedestrian path and linear park on the paved thoroughfare above.

In many cases, new bridges are constructed while their predecessors remain active, so why not use the old adjacent one for something new instead of carefully dismantling it? That’s what Urban Nouveau asks (and answers).

“Gamla Lidingöbron is unique and its cultural historical value increases with time,” say the architects. “It is more resourceful to fix the existing structure than to create tonnes of garbage by demolishing it. The bridge contains public memory and is an important symbol for Stockholm.”

Selling the newly built and centrally located two-story homes (with wonderful views) would bring in the revenue required to renovate the structure for its new use over the next few years while the new bridge is constructed. These units would also take advantage of the existing truss system holding up the bridge structure, requiring less energy and effort to build in the first place.

Getting this idea to go viral could, as it did with the High Line in NYC, help it become a reality. “Rather than conservation, this project is about restoring and developing a historic structure as a way to save it from demolition. After publishing our proposal in local media we received mostly positive comments from the local community. A public debate has started. With global support we will bring this project to reality.”

Even the smallest, ugliest and most awkward space can become a comfortable apartment when creative custom built-ins are integrated into a brilliant renovation by a truly talented architect. Undeniably the most effective way to save space and reorganize interiors without cutting them off from each other, bespoke built-in elements like storage staircases, bookcases full of beds, transforming self-contained volumes, panel systems and custom cabinetry transform spaces like dingy garages, formerly abandoned slurry pits, historic flats and average urban lofts into highly livable homes.

A Floating Mezzanine & Storage Staircase in London

At Syte Architects’ Studio on Greville Road, a historic building occupied by the same artist for twenty years gets dramatically brighter, lighter and more organized with the addition of double-height glass doors facing the garden, a bespoke wooden staircase packed full of storage customized to the artist’s needs, and a floating mezzanine. The storage, including vertical cubbies that can accommodate oversized paintings, slots right beneath the staircase leading to the second floor, which stops short of the perimeter walls and inserts weight-supporting glass instead. This feature combined with new skylights ensures that plenty of all-important daylight floods into every corner of the space.

‘Sleeping Bookcase’ for a Paris Pied-a-Terre by

French architect Pierre-Louis Gerlier completely reorganized the interior of a Paris pied-a-terre to create a much larger living room and a bedroom with private cubbies for multiple children. This require a whole lot of custom built-ins, which maximize storage for each room and create fun features like window seats. But by far the coolest element of this renovation is that wall of bed cubbies interspersed with storage.

Aluminum Island in an Industrial Loft

What was formerly a 1920s industrial building in Paris’ 11th arrondissement has become a striking apartment in the hands of SABO Project, with a renovation that emphasizes the native character of the space. The concrete walls are aged and highly textural, contrasting with melamine cabinetry and an unusual aluminum island containing the bedroom and bathroom. Cut-outs allow daylight to filter into these more private spaces by day, and diffuse artificial light into the living room at night. There’s a guest loft hidden on top of the island, too.

A Modern Trocadero Apartment in Paris by François Champsaur

Myriad custom surfaces completely transform this Paris apartment in a high-end renovation by François Champsaur, giving it a modern edge with lots of curves. He removed false ceilings installed in 1970 and replaced the parquet floors with extra-long pine boards. The dining room is lined with marble, and the bathroom adds slatted wood to soften it. Custom panels are used extensively to disguise potentially busy-looking elements like televisions and kitchenware.

Renovated Family Duplex in Denmark by Spacon & X

It’s plain to see how custom built-ins can make a tiny space far more usable and enjoyable in this apartment renovation in Denmark by Spacon & X. Created for a family of four, the new living space integrates a staircase full of storage into the kitchen that doubles as a room divider for the living room, a guest bed that folds up into the wall beneath elevated textile storage, a window seat, a fold-down office stations and a super cute kid room full of slide-out closets, desks and play areas.

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Built In Bonanza 13 Mega Apartment Makeovers Packed With Custom Features

Apartment buildings are typically so hideous, it’s kind of exhausting. A structure with some measure of character gets knocked down in a prominent spot and before locals dare to dream that something cool might go up in its place, there’s another boring old block of apartments (or worse yet, condos) adding to the dull architectural noise of the city. Of course, it’s all subjective. You could argue, fairly enough, that pretty much all new apartment buildings are ugly, and that trying to make them ‘cool’ results in an even more irritating visual offense. What do you think – are these 13 designs switching up the same-old same-old in a positive way?

Lots of Light: 9 Units at the Apartment in Kamitakada

Developers looking to squeeze big bucks out of a project by creating high-end luxury housing are a lot more motivated to build structures that are more interesting than usual, but every now and then, there’s the rare project that gives some aesthetic consideration to a building that’s actually affordable to the average city resident. Takeshi Yamagata Architects designed this 9-unit building in Tokyo as a cluster of four buildings connected by open-air pathways, integrating gardens, curving walls and lots of windows for the feel of an urban refuge minus the multi-million-dollar price tag.

325 Kent by SHoP Architects

Currently under construction on the site of an old Domino sugar factory in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, the 325 Kent project by SHoP Architects is part of a redevelopment masterplan transforming the refinery into a 380,000-square-foot complex with a waterfront park and four residential buildings containing 2,800 rental units. SHoP’s building will house 522 of those apartments in a 16-story structure, arranged around a dramatic elevated courtyard. The units at the top will be stepped to create a series of spacious outdoor terraces. Nope – this one isn’t going to be cheap.

Pixelated Concrete: 222 Jackson by ODA

Over in Queens, the 11-story 2222 Jackson building by ODA features a pixelated concrete facade creating voids and projections for shade, privacy and outdoor spaces. Located just steps away from MoMA PS1, the building is conceived as a modular grid, giving it about 30% more outdoor space than the same-sized building with the same number of units arranged in a more typical shape.

Parasitic Growth: Plug-In City 75 by Stephane Malka

Commissioned to update and expand a 1970s-era building in Paris, architect Stéphane Malka proposes a system of parasitic wooden cubes that would attach to the facade, extending the living space and reducing the structure’s energy consumption by 75 percent. The unusual design would help mitigate problems with poor insulation and permeable windows while adhering to the city’s restrictive building laws, which don’t allow architects to build vertically.

Contemporary and Complimentary: p17 Housing in Milan

How do you sensitively design a new apartment complex that will blend in with a historic neighborhood while reflecting the era in which it’s being built? For P17, a residential housing complex in Milan, Italian architectural firm Modourbano harmonizes with surrounding buildings while retaining a contemporary feel, thanks to the beautiful natural hues in its sandstone facade.

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No More Ugly Apartment Buildings 13 Designs Refreshing The Paradigm