© Rafael Gamo
Architects: Arqmov Workshop
Location: Mexico City, DF
Builder: Espacio Vectorial
Built Area: 2000 sqm
Project Year: 2011
Photography: Rafael Gamo
© Renaud Chaignet
Architect: Jean Paul Viguier Architecture
Location: ZAC de Bonne, Grenoble, France
Contractor: Nexity / Vinci Immobilier
Architect of operations: Tomasini Design
Technical Design Engineering: IBSE ( structure, VRD), GECC AICC (fluides) / Adret ( HQE)
Project Surface Area: 12 100 sq.m . net
Project Date: 2011
Cost: 20 M € HT
Photographs: Renaud Chaignet
© Kevin Hui & Adrian Rivalland
Architect: Marc Dixon
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Project Team: Rosanna Ceravolo – Pablo Byass – Adrian Rivalland Builder – Canterbury
Builders Engineer: Shane Ford Contracting P/L
Photographs: Kevin Hui, Adrian Rivalland
© Adrià Goula
Architect: Sergi Pons Architecte
Situation: Barcelona, Spain
Collaborators: Anna Giralt
Project year: 2011
Photographs: Adrià Goula
© Nigel Young
Architects: Foster + Partners
Location: Vancouver, Canada
Co-architects: Walter Francl Architects Inc
Consultants: Yolles, Vermeulens Cost Consultants, Imec Mechanical Ltd., PWL Partnership Landscape Architects Inc., Claude Engle Lighting Consultant, Bridge Electric Corp., Imec Mechanical Ltd., Piers Heath Associates, Robert Lemon Architect Inc.
Client: Jameson House Ventures Inc, Pappajohns (previous client)
Year: 2004-2011
Photographs: Nigel Young / © Foster and Partners
Courtesy of OFIS arhitekti
Architects: OFIS arhitekti
Location: Ljubljana, Slovenia
Project Team: Rok Oman, Spela Videcnik, Andrej Gregoric, Janez Martincic, Janja Del Linz, Laura Carroll, Erin Durno, Leonor Coutinho, Maria Trnovska, Jolien Maes, Sergio Silva Santos, Grzegorz Ostrowski, Javier Carrera, Magdalena Lacka, Estefania Lopez Tornay, Nika Zufic
Structural Engineering: Elea IC d.o.o.
Mechanical Engineering: ISP d.o.o.
Electrical Engineering: Eurolux d.o.o.
Client: DZS d.d
Site Area: 692 sqm
Gross Floor Area: 2,420 sqm
Photographs: Tomaz Gregoric, Jan Celeda
Courtesy of Filipe Magalhaes and Ana Luisa Soares
Filipe Magalhaes and Ana Luisa Soares shared with us their first prize winning proposal in the open ideas competition organized by Origami Competitions. The competition focused on an empty plot in Oporto, Portugal, where they were asked to develop a fresh and contemporary residential proposal that could be spread through the city. ‘Polikatoikea’ does just that in seeking a compromise between a greek rule (polikatoika) and a swedish philosophy (ikea). More images and architects’ description after the break. read more »
Martín Azúa 1999 / Photographs Daniel Riera
Barcelona designer Martín Azúa questions the idea of the private home with the Basic House – an inhabitable volume that is “foldable, inflatable and reversible”. The experimental prototype challenges the idea of homeownership, offering an alternative to the materialistic reality of today. Made from metalized polyester, the Basic House is a shelter small enough to fit in your pocket, allowing you to break away from the imprisonment of material ties.
Continue reading for more.
Courtesy of Century City Development Corporation
Century City Development Corporation, a subsidiary of Century Properties Group Inc. focused on mixed-use developments with high-rise condominiums, recently revealed their architectural design for the Trump Tower in Manila, Philippines. The tower is going to be prominent on the Manila skyline for years to come. It’s a beautiful glass building – very architecturally significant with an incredible spire. Its architecture will be truly iconic. More images and architects’ description after the break. read more »
Courtesy of Make Architects
Architect: Make Architects
Location: Birmingham, UK
Client: Birmingham Development Company
Collaborators: BuroHappold, Faber Mansell Fire, Faithful+Gould, GMJ, Hoare Lea
Project Area: 42,000 sqm
Project Year: 2010
Photographs: Zander Olsen, Make Architects, Craig Holmes/Images of Birmingham, Crew Photography
© Wikimedia.org / Gobeirne
During the housing boom in Phoenix and the surrounding suburbs, enormous swaths of land were graded and prepared for endless subdivisions as far as the eye could see. Following the burst of the housing market and prolonged recession, these unfinished construction sites have sat vacant – remnants of unbridled optimism in the Valley of the Sun. A recent article on NPR.org discusses some of the alternative visions for re-appropriating these phantom lots that propagate the greater Phoenix area. Various methods of breathing new life into these chasms left behind include rezoning the numerous residential lots for mixed-use, or tearing up the infrastructure and letting nature take back control. For those unfamiliar with the rapid pace of development that was taking place prior to the recession, Maricopa, a small town just south of Phoenix was approving over 600 residential home permits per month. With an inventory of over 16,000 dedicated to residential homes, the measures that are required to remediate the impact of such an ambitious plan need to be ingenious.
While the Southwest has suffered from the housing bust significantly more than many other states, it will undoubtedly always remain a destination for its unequaled sunny days, warm weather and amazing desert landscape.
See this article on similar circumstances in the Rust Belt region.
Photographs: Wikimedia.org User: Gobeirne
References: www.NPR.org, www.philly.com
Courtesy of Kotaro Horiuchi Architecture
Located in Maintenon, 65km southwest of Paris, France, the Villa Toiture by Kotaro Horiuchi Architecture inhabits a family of three married couples and children. Spontaneous grounds are surrounded by vast grasslands and forests which open as a place of rest for the weekend to give healing to life in the city while enjoying the open-air bath in nature. More images and architects’ description after the break. read more »
© Zander Olsen
Architects: Make Architects
Location: London, UK
Client: Ridgeford Properties Ltd
Collaborators: Alan Baxter and Associates, Arup, Drivers Jonas, Gardiner and Theobald, Maleon, John Sisk and Son Ltd, Savell Bird and Axon, Schatunowski Brooks
Project Area: 1,580 sqm
Project Year: 2009
Photographs: Zander Olsen
© Philippe Ruault
Architects: PPA
Location: Toulouse, France
Client /developer: Habitat Toulouse
Collaborators: Isabelle Fabre, Guillaume Calsou
Landscaping: Quinconces
Structure engineer: Bernadberoy
Fluids engineer: Ceercé
Hqe engineer: Franck Boutté
Economist: Alayrac
Project Area: 5 300 sqm
Project Year: 2011
Photographs: Philippe Ruault
© Atelier Carbon
Weysen & De Baere Architects shared with us their design for an apartment building in Flanders, Belgium which includes four units and an office on the ground floor. The construction site exists of two parcels, lying back to back, each with its own entrance from the street. More images and architects’ description after the break.
© John Mills
Architect: Fulton Trotter Architects
Location: Parkview, Wheller Gardens, 930 Gympie Road, Chermside QLD 4032, Australia
Client: Wesley Mission Brisbane
Project Team: Mark Trotter, Hayley Crofts, Neil Roberts, Ryan Loveday, John Ward, Tanya Roth, Joanne Tenorio, Sam Weiler, Angela Barbeler, Lionel KettlerProject Builder: Evans Harch
Cost: $34M
Photographs: John Mills
© Zander Olsen
Architects: Make Architects
Location: London, UK
Client: St James Group Ltd
Collaborators: Sheppard Robson, Arup, Barton Willmore, Charles Funke Associates, Davis Langdon, EDP, Faithful+Gould, FPD Savills, Future City, Herbert Smith
Project Area: 25,000 sqm
Project Year: 2009
Photographs: Zander Olsen, Make Architects: Charles Funke; Cooper Rose
The project by AQSO Arquitectos, a high density residential complex in Guangyuan, China, is conceived as a strong element in consonance with the surrounding hilly scene. The buildings rise over the landscape becoming a milestone, a sober and expressive landmark. This massing makes it possible to archive the desired plot ratio and increases the green areas on the ground, minimizing the building footprint. More images and architects’ description after the break. read more »
© Jonathan Wallen
Architects: Platt Byard Dovell White Architects
Location: 50 Prospect Park West, Brooklyn, New York, USA
Cost: $20 million
Completed: 2007
Client: Poly Prep Country Day School
Landmark Status: Park Slope Historic District
Original Architect: Montrose Morris, Romanesque Revival Hulbert Mansion
Project Team: Samuel G. White, FAIA, Design Principal; Serena Losonczy, Project Manager; Matthew Mueller, Job Captain; Leonard Leung; Marie Marberg; Charles Melansen; Tomo Tsujita; Julie Janiski, LEED AP
Photographs: Jonathan Wallen
Bolles+Wilson / A Handbook Of Productive Paradigms
“Established initially in London in 1980 and based in Germany since 1988 the architectural office of Bolles + Wilson has firmly established itself as an international practice underpinned by thorough research and theoretical discourse. This monograph chronicles a variety…
We recently had the pleasure of having Steven Ehrlich visit our office and give a talk about his work. He is as personable as his work is fascinating. He left us with a recently published book of his work…
Louis Kahn Drawing to Find Out / Michael Merrill
We recently featured the companion to this book, Louis Kahn On the Thoughtful Making of Spaces. This large format book draws together over two hundred—mostly unpublished—drawings of Kahn’s Dominican Motherhouse. It offers a fascinating look into Kahn’s design process…
