Photographer: Shinkenchiku Sha | ArchDaily

Jingu Studio / YNAS

Miwa Negoro — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 02:00:00 +0000

The renovation of Villa Serena 204 began as a personal and professional mission to challenge Japan's "scrap-and-build" culture. Located in a historic modernist building designed by Junzo Sakakura, the project seeks to prove that aging architecture can gain value through thoughtful intervention. The core inspiration was the tension between the building's rigid 600mm structural grid and the fluid lifestyle of its occupants—an architect and a casting director. By embracing the "ambiguity" between work and life, the design breathes new life into a modernist relic, transforming it into a high-functioning home and studio.

Designing with Smoke: The Chimney as Architectural and Environmental Instrument

Olivia Poston — Thu, 06 Nov 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Chimneys are among the most quietly persistent elements in architectural history. Yet their presence persists in nearly every cultural and climatic context, serving as a technical feature and a spatial, atmospheric, and symbolic device. It populates dense city skylines and anchors rural horizons alike, its vertical silhouette as ordinary as a window or a doorframe. This apparent ordinariness is deceptive. The chimney is one of the few architectural components that links the intimate scale of interior life with the expansive forces of the environment. For architects and designers, the necessity of the chimney presents a choice: to let it recede quietly into the building's functional fabric or to amplify it as a central, expressive element that shapes a project's identity.

"No House Exists in Isolation": Riken Yamamoto on the Failures of Contemporary Housing in Louisiana Channel Interview

Antonia Piñeiro — Thu, 31 Jul 2025 05:30:00 +0000

Riken Yamamoto, born in Beijing in 1945 and raised in Yokohama shortly after World War II, is a Japanese architect celebrated for fostering community through architecture. After founding his practice, Riken Yamamoto & Field Shop, in 1973, he became renowned for works ranging from social housing, such as Hotakubo Housing and Pangyo Housing, to civic projects like the Hiroshima Nishi Fire Station and Saitama Prefectural University, all unified by modular simplicity. Honored in March 2024 as the Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate, he was praised by jury chair Alejandro Aravena for "blurring boundaries between public and private," fostering spontaneous social interaction, and "bringing dignity to everyday life" by enabling community to flourish through thoughtful design. In this interview with Louisiana Channel, the architect reflects on the social role of architecture, emphasizing the inseparable bond between housing and context, and the need to create spaces that foster visible, meaningful relationships.

HOUSE F / KamakuraStudio

Miwa Negoro — Mon, 10 Feb 2025 20:00:00 +0000

This project serves as both the architect's residence and office. By making the first-floor office a space where people from the neighborhood can casually drop by, it aims to foster connections within the community. The site is located in a relatively new neighborhood, where 75% of the residents have moved in within the past decade. In the future, this area may face challenges such as population decline and an aging society. Hoping to avoid repeating the trajectory of past "new towns," the architect believes the key to a sustainable community lies in residents continually thinking about their city as an extension of their daily lives.

Futtsu Weekend House / Atelier MEME

Hana Abdel — Wed, 02 Oct 2024 20:00:00 +0000

In designing for a client seeking respite from the bustling workday life, we crafted the Weekend House in Futtsu as a haven of freedom and tranquility. Nestled along the coastline near Tokyo Bay, this idyllic retreat offers an uninterrupted view of the vast seascape. Perched on a gentle hill, the residence boasts a clear view of Mount Fuji on sunny days, while on the opposite side, lush mountains rise, their dense foliage almost embracing the property. Recognizing the allure of the sea and the mountains, we designed a space that naturally draws the gaze outward in every direction.

Spline House / Daisuke Ibano, Ryosuke Fujii

Clara Ott — Fri, 02 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000

This is a housing project for a married couple and their children, located on the edge of a quiet residential area. The site was developed after the 1970 Osaka Expo during a period of high economic growth and has always been empty of any buildings. The west side is adjacent to the forest that is part of a lively community park which provides a sense of being connected to nature through the whole house. The main challenge was to make sure to build a harmonious relationship with the surrounding greenery.

Nagoya Zokei University / Riken Yamamoto

Clara Ott — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0000

In 2022 Nagoya Zokei University of Art and Design will move from its current campus in Komaki to the city of Nagoya. The new campus is located next to Meijo Park, the home of Nagoya Castle Meijo Koen Station is right below the grounds.

Deconstruct, Do Not Demolish: The Practice of Reuse of Materials in Architecture

Susanna Moreira — Sat, 25 Dec 2021 07:30:00 +0000

Reform and adaptation of spaces represent a significant parcel of projects ordered to architecture firms, and reuse of preexisting structures is not newness. Functions and needs change over time, therefore adaptations are required to meet new demands. However, no matter how much the maintenance of a building is, in most cases, preferred in economic and ecological sense to its demolition and a new construction from the beginning, the logic of the reuse of a space does not usually extend to its parts that become, thus, rubble.

House in Kanazawa / Shota Nakanishi Architects + Ohno Japan

Hana Abdel — Thu, 16 Dec 2021 22:00:00 +0000

The house is designed by the Japanese architect Shota Nakanishi and the structural architect Hirofumi Ohno in Japan. The site is a residential area in Kanazawa, Ishikawa prefecture, Japan, in the Hokuriku region. The Hokuriku region has the rainiest days of any region in Japan.

Meet the Winners of the 2021 AR House Awards

Dima Stouhi — Tue, 07 Dec 2021 06:30:00 +0000

El Garaje by Nomos has been announced as the winner of the 2021 AR House Awards 2021. Selected from a shortlist of 15 global practices, the jury praised the project for how it "rethinks the housing typology as an element to reactivate underused spaces in cities and transform rigid and obsolete infrastructure into lively solutions". House Hamburgö by Manthey Kula and House in Kanazawa by Shota Nakanishi Architects also received highly commended recognition, along with honorable mentions to Beaconsfield house by Simon Pendal Architect, Weekend House by AREA (Architecture Research Athens), and Hlöðuberg artist studio by Studio Bua.

Embodied Energy in Building Materials: What it is and How to Calculate It

Eduardo Souza — Thu, 26 Aug 2021 04:30:00 +0000

All human activities affect the environment. Some are less impactful, some much, much more. According to the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), the construction sector is responsible for up to 30% of all greenhouse gas emissions. Activities such as mining, processing, transportation, industrial operations, and the combination of chemical products result in the release of gases such as CO2, CH4, N2O, O3, halocarbons, and water vapor. When these gases are released into the atmosphere, they absorb a portion of the sun's rays and redistribute them in the form of radiation in the atmosphere, warming our planet. With a rampant amount of gas released daily, this layer thickens, which causes solar radiation to enter and and stay in the planet. Today, this 'layer' has become so thick that mankind is beginning to experience severe consequence, such as desertification, ice melting, water scarcity, and the intensification of storms, hurricanes, and floods, which has modified ecosystems and reduced biodiversity.

Matsubara Civic Library / MARU。architecture

Hana Abdel — Thu, 10 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0000

This project in Matsubara, Osaka Prefecture replaced an existing library on the same site. The original building was located adjacent to a reservoir pond in a park where many of the city’s cultural facilities are concentrated, and the client intended to fill in the pond to build the new structure. Firms were asked to submit proposals addressing both design and construction. Our winning proposal viewed the pond-side site as a unique project condition, and instead of filling it in, suggested building the library directly out into the water. The proposal received high marks for both its creativity and its streamlining of the construction process and budget.

Rural House / Takayuki Kuzushima and Associates

Hana Abdel — Thu, 20 May 2021 01:00:00 +0000

Countryside diversity and modernity - The concept of the countryside first appeared in contrast when the concept of the city was created. The boundary is not clear, but the countryside can be thought of as an extension outside the city. Sites in cities are being attempted to be structured according to system and industrial principles, but in the countryside there are many vague places that deviate from them. In the countryside, it seems commonplace to seek an individual and concrete way of architecture that is completely different from the strong structure of the city.

House I / miya akiko architecture atelier

Andreas Luco — Wed, 28 Oct 2020 01:00:00 +0000

The house was designed for a couple who are around 50 years old. They wanted to make their final abode to spend their slow life with outdoor activities. In the beginning, they said they want to make a house like an old Japanese traditional house. But after my first presentation, they said, ” I have never imagined a house like this, but if it is possible, we want a house like this. In this house, we will always feel each other, not too tightly nor feeling alone and close to nature outside.“ By these words, I realized that this idea could be concerned fundamentally with the Japanese traditional house, even if it doesn’t look like a traditional house at all.

House K / miya akiko architecture atelier

Andreas Luco — Tue, 27 Oct 2020 20:00:00 +0000

The client was a young couple in their mid-thirties with their 8-months baby, when they first came to my studio in Yokohama. The site was part of the garden of the husband’s parents’ house that was built nearly 35 years ago. Many kinds of trees have grown through these years. They requested me with their own conceptual words like these; the fusion between inside and outside, the flexibility to use the space, not separating the site by the house but enlarging by that, find a new concept of the small house; the extent of space in harmony with the surroundings, etc.

Incorporating Fire in External Projects: Tips and Examples for Fireplaces

Eduardo Souza — Thu, 22 Oct 2020 04:00:00 +0000

Yuval Noah Harari points out that, around 300 thousand years ago, Homo erectus, Neanderthals, and ancestors of Homo sapiens already used fire daily. According to the author of the international bestseller “Sapiens,” fire created the first significant gap between man and other animals. "By domesticating fire, humans gained control of an obedient and potentially limitless force." Some scholars even believe that there is a direct relationship between the advent of the habit of cooking food (possibly due to the domestication of fire) and the shortening of the intestinal tract and growth of the human brain, which allowed human beings to develop and create everything we now have.

The Beauty of Exposed Wooden Trusses

Lilly Cao — Mon, 05 Oct 2020 04:30:00 +0000

Timber trusses are wooden structural frameworks used to support roofs or other heavy structures. Fabricated from a series of triangles linked by a ridge beam and purlins, wooden trusses are structurally advantageous due to their high strength-to-weight ratios and corresponding ability to support long spans. However, these structural components can also be used for aesthetic ends, and when left exposed, can complexify, beautify, and open an interior space.

Polycarbonate for Interiors: 8 Examples of Translucent Architecture Indoors

Lilly Cao — Tue, 22 Sep 2020 01:30:00 +0000

Diversifying the materials of an interior space can greatly improve its depth and visual interest. At the same time, adding partitions or other delineations of internal space can help organize flow, circulation, and visibility. Polycarbonate, a type of lightweight, durable thermoplastic, is an excellent medium for both functions.