Westwood, California

Back in January(2013), we published an article under the heading: “Dialogue of two homes”. That was when the design process for the two speculative residences on Bishop lane in Menlo Park, California had been completed.  Well, 10 months later, they are finished and sold at record prices.  “We always thought Design sells, we also knew that Modern when done with care has its followers, but never in our wildest dreams did we think that these homes would sell in under 3 weeks, this confirmed our view that Modern is in play” Says: Mark Vaghei, AIA, atelier V’s Design Principal.  Now, its not a hidden fact that the housing market has been sizzling, but there had to be other factors in play besides a hot market to sell these homes.  “Setting ourselves apart with a modern language while respecting the context made all the difference in the world!;  in the first open house, we had people falling in love on the first sight, there was nothing more satisfying than that!”  Says Mark Vaghei, AIA.

atelier V’s entry in the International Design Competition for the Central Mosque of Prishtina, Kosovo

atelier V: architecture (www.atelierv.com) has participated in the International Design Competition for the Design of the Grand Central Mosque of Prishtina in Prishtina, Kosovo.  The competition opened in December of 2012 and all entries were submitted by March of 2013.  ”Our intent in entering International Competitions is two-fold: first, to expand our marketing effort beyond our local comfort zone, and secondly, it gives us an opportunity to test our skills against world class competition which in turn will benefit all our present and future clients.” says Mark Vaghei, AIA, atelier V’s Design Principal.  The competition site is an urban site in the Dardania district of Prishtina.  The site is surrounded by 3 and 4 story residential and commercial buildings of 1970 to 2000 era and slopes nearly 5 meters from east to west.  ”The challenge of this site was to strategically locate the main prayer hall on the major drag with its internal axis facing Mecca while entering it on exactly the opposite side away from the main boulevard” says Mark Vaghei. In the following,  a brief background and history of Islam in Kosovo and the current needs for a Grand Mosque as depicted in the competition

Westwood, Ca

atelier V: architecture’s(www.atelierv.com) 300 N. Central Project in Glendale, California is making steady progress in its quest for completion in the first quarter of 2014.  As you can see in the pictures, the hole in the ground for the two story subterranean garage is dug, all the retaining walls have been water proofed and shot creted and the ramp wall and P-2 level concrete columns and the Elevator core have been poured.  Next will be the pouring of the slab on grade.  Guys at the Legendary Builders (Project General Contractor) tell us that they should be pouring the slab at the street level in 5-5 weeks time, after which we’ll see a lot quicker progress visually.