© Sergio Pirrone
Location: 4560 Conesa street, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Architects: Adamo-Faiden
Project team: Sebastián Adamo, Marcelo Faiden, Luciano Intile, Aldana Rizza, Gastón Duarte
Year: 2008
Photography: Sergio Pirrone
Jesus Robles, Dale Rush and Cade Hayes from DUST design build have designed a mountain retreat for a small family of three in Arizona. The home attempts to preserve as much of the land as possible as a way to hold on to the “history and mysteries of the Sonoran Desert.” Users must walk through a dense forest of saguaros, ocotillo and Paloverde trees before seeing the house unfold in the landscape and ultimately arriving at the sculptural entry stairs.
More about the home after the break. read more »
© Paul Clemence
Photographer Paul Clemence shared with us some photos of 100 11th Ave, a residential tower in Chelsea by Jean Nouvel.
This building is almost complete, and it has a strong presence from across the river, or when seen from the High Line. I remember that a month ago, I was looking at it from the High Line and a lady next to me said “how old is that building?”. Despite the fact of its high tech curtain wall, using 1647 different window panels, the building looks ancient, almost like a left over from the old waterfront.
The variation of the windows is not only on their size, but also the inclination and the glass tint, giving this building a unique facade.
More photos after the break:
Renowned mexican architect Enrique Norten (TEN Arquitectos) has been working in NY since a few years ago, with One York already built at SOHO & Tribeca. And with CASSA, his new 43-stories tall residential tower, he joins the city’s skyline.
The project includes 57 luxury residences and 166 hotel rooms, with interiors by Cetra/Ruddy, along with a 5 star restaurant, a spa, a private terrace and lounge, and other additional services.
The tower doesn´t look to find its place at the NY skyline with any “fireworks”, just a rigorous orthogonal volume with a character given by the punctured rhythm of its windows.
More images after the break.
© Koichi Torimura
Designed for an 80 year old woman, EASTERN Design Office’s Slit House, a reinforced concrete residential project, “presents her both a life space with a soft light and an interesting experience of scale unlikely in a house.” Situated in an old Japanese city on a site 50 meters by 7.5 meters, the home has long slits that run along a 22 centimeter thick wall, making the interior space open, while providing enough privacy.
More about the home and more images after the break. read more »
Rothe Lowman Architects‘ 18 storey tall AIR Apartments will be the first true high rise residential apartment building ever built in Coburg. The tower is comprised of 259 apartments and will bring “high density living to one of Melbourne’s five designated activity centers.” The tower is expected to be one of the most striking buildings in the city. “Its dynamic new architectural profile and sculptural façade foreshadows a renewed sense of place, taking Coburg’s exciting transformation to unscaled heights,” explained the architects.
More about the AIR Apartments after the break. read more »
New York-based Hariri & Hariri Architecture have completed a 1200 sqaure ft pool house which rests upon the 3.5 acre property of a suburban Connecticut residence. The design of the pool house serves as a contrast to the traditional architecture of the exisitng home. The dominate extended ceiling provides shelter for those lounging around the pool, enjoying the water, or sitting on the patio.
More about the pool house after the break. read more »
Kiyonobu Nakagame & Associates designed a villa on the Boso Peninsula, east of Tokyo. Even though the residence is less that two hours from the city, the natural setting surrounding the home could not be any more different from the chaotic streets of the downtown Tokyo area. The secluded setting allows the home to take full advantage of the landscape and provide a great space for relaxation. The minimalistic design creates wide spacious areas to sit and become lost in the panoramic views of the Pacific Ocean to the front, and magnificent views of the mountain ranges in the back. “Having these [the views] in our mind, we came up with the design concept to provide the one continuous wall folded in different directions setting up the various views,” explained the architects. This continuous wall does not create a bulky structure that is intrusive on the landscape, but rather, the folded wall creates an elegant residence that embraces the surroundings by making the users focus on the natural instead of the built.
More images of the home after the break. read more »
Mary Mattingly
The Waterpod ProjectTM has been floating around the New York area for the past few months gaining a lot of attention. Beginning in Newtown Creek, between Brooklyn and Queens, the Pod is moving down the East River and Hudson River. As reported by Melena Ryzik for The New York Times (view her articles here) this experimental project investigates the blend of community living and artistry. Showcasing artworks, performances and such, the WaterpodTM, is an eco-conscious environment that was designed “In preparation for our coming world with an increase in population, a decrease in usable land, and a greater flux in environmental conditions, people will need to rely closely on immediate communities and look for alternative living models; the Waterpod is about cooperation, collaboration, augmentation, and metamorphosis,” explained Mary Mattingly, a photographer who thought of the Waterpod idea.
More about the WaterpodTM after the break. read more »
TSC Architects have completed a 1,180 square ft single family residence in Ichinomiya City, Japan. The two story home is constructed primarily from reinforced concrete. The materiality gives a strong character to the residential design as the concrete creates a harsh and bold exterior. The architects do not attempt to soften that effect as the concrete stays exposed throughout the interiors. Slices of light illuminate the hard wood floors bringing a touch of warmth to the structure.
More images after the break. read more »
Internationally recognized practice RMJM Architects have recently announced their groundbreaking $1 billon mixed-use complex for the Atasehir district, the growing residential and business area of Istanbul, Turkey. RMJM’s complex will allow the new business center to flourish by serving 20,000 people and providing for a variety of their needs. The project will be revolutionary for Turkey as it will become the country’s first LEED-certified mixed-use development upon its 2011 completion date.
More images and more about the complex after the break. read more »
Located in Phuket, Thailand, Paul Studio Architects‘ Bluepoint Sales Pavilion provides a space for potential clients to enjoy the surrounding views. The elegant wooden structure gracefully compliments the landscape by “responding to the powerful contextual site conditions.”
More about the residence after the break. read more »
The Sage Residence in Eugene, Oregon was both designed and built by Arbor South Architecture. The residence, designed as “a super efficient demonstration house” illustrates the firm’s green abilities. In addition to receiving an impressive score of 110 in the LEED rating, the home includes beautiful exteriors and interiors.
More about the home after the break. read more »
When we shared our interview with Stanley Saitowitz, design principle of Natoma Architects Inc., earlier this week on AD, we promised to share his latest works. For his Pine Mountain Road weekend residence, Saitowitz creates “an elemental architecture of column and roof, a man made grove of habitation.”
More about the weekend residence after the break. 
read more »
TWS & Partners named their latest work Studio 2 in 1, as it accommodates the function of a home and a studio within one place. The studio is located in the urban setting of Jakarta, amidst the semi-detached housing units that are typical of the area. With a small site measuring 10 meter by 20 meter, the project aims to “elaborate the tropical, shaded, natural illuminated, and cross ventilation, breathing space regardless all the limitation of space.”
More images and further project description after the break.
We recently shared Albert McDonald’s winning entry for the COD competition, and now SO Architecture just shared their proposal with us. The proposal entitled “Free Plan (T)” incorporates the free plan of Le Corbusier in an effort to leave the inner organization undisturbed. Yet, the free plans also means “no walls shall disturb one to live among nature”. Taking inspiration from Raymond’s work and incorpation of nature, the firm proposes to “take the house into the landscape”.
More about SO Architecture’s proposal after the break.
Ateliers Jean Nouvel
“Bolder” is certainly fitting to describe Nouvel’s Torre de Verre which is planned for 53 West 53rd Street. The 1,250 foot tower will offer approximately 40,000 sq feet of new gallery space for the MoMa, in addition to 150 residential apartments and 100 hotels rooms. The tower’s unique silhouette will dominate the Midtown block, rising higher than the iconic Chrysler Building. Its irregular structural pattern has been called “out of scale” on numerous occasions by opponents of the project. Some complain that the tower will “violate the area’s integrity” noting that its height will obscure views and light. Shadow studies show that the building may plunge apartments in the area and the ice-skating rink at Central Park into darkness.
The aesthetic is definitely foreign to Midtown and, yet, while most are quick to reject change, the tower will sit in an area surrounded by highly revolutionary buildings. Its new neighbors include Philip Johnson’s “Lipstick Building” at Third Avenue; Hugh Stubbins’ Citicorp Building at Lexington Avenue, Mies van der Rohe’s Seagram Building and SOM’s Lever House at Park Avenue. At some point in time, each of those buildings exemplified a change in style, and yet now, they are staples in the area’s heritage.
© Axis Mundi 2009
With controversy still surrounding Nouvel’s design as it moves through the city’s review process (ULURP), John Beckmann and his firm, Axis Mundi decided to do something about it. A few short days ago, Axis Mundi unveiled a conceptual alternative design for 53 West 53rd Street. The alternative features a 600 foot, 50 story mixed use building that ”rethinks the tall buildings that have become synonymous with New York City’s identity.” Beckmann explained, ”Historically, the skyscraper was a unitary, homogeneous form that reflected the generic, flexible office space it contained…The Vertical Neighborhood is more organic and more flexible–an assemblage of disparate architectural languages. It reflects an emerging reality for tall buildings as collections of domestic elements: dwellings, neighborhoods, streets.”
More images and more about Axis Mundi’s alternative after the break.
For three weeks in October 2009, 20 teams of college and university students will compete in the US Department of Energy Solar Decathlon. The competition provides the teams with an opportunity to “design, build, and operate the most attractive, effective, and energy-efficient solar-powered house.” Organized in three stages, (building, moving to the solar village in the National Mall in Washington D.C., and the actual competition) the Solar Decathlon aims to raise awareness among the general public about renewable energy and energy efficiency, help solar energy technologies enter the marketplace faster, foster collaboration among students from different academic disciplines, and educate the student participants. “The Solar Decathlon brings attention to one of the biggest challenges we face-an ever-increasing need for energy. As an internationally recognized event, it offers powerful solutions-using energy more efficiently and using energy from renewable sources.”
Santa Clara University, known for their excellence in engineering/business got the third place at the 2007 competition, and for this year’s competition they teamed with CCA, dedicated to architecture, art and design, to create a 100 student team to participate in the Solar Decathlon. The team is the only undergraduate-led team participating in the competition (most are filled with Ph. D programs), combing “youth and process, [they] set the standard in green living”. The young team of future architects, engineers, construction managers, graphic designers and interior designers have created a proposal, entitled Refract House, that is dedicated to promoting the idea of “Living Light: harnessing sunlight to power our energy needs, lightening our carbon footprint upon the earth, and enlightening today’s consumers and the next generation of concerned, responsible citizens about the possibilities of sustainable living.” “We want the project to have a lasting impact as both a case study for green design and as an exhibit of technology. We already know it’s going to have an impact on all of us,” explained Allison Kopf, an SCU Engineering Physics student.
More about the winning Refract House after the break. read more »
Nestled among the Forest Hill neighborhood in Toronto, Paul Raff Studio’s latest sustainable residence is “a marriage of environmentally responsible building strategies and elegant architectural composition.” The 353m2 residence, entitled the Cascade House, is designed in an I-formation around an outdoor swimming pool and offers a high quality of aesthetics in addition to environmentally friendly strategies.
More about the home after the break. read more »
Designed by ThreefoldArchitects, the Ladderstile House, an eco-friendly large residence in Richmond Park, London, is arranged around an internally landscape courtyard. The home’s volumes open to external areas creating a unified residence with the exterior and interior complimenting each other.
More images and more about the residence after the break. read more »
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