© Derek Swalwell

• Architects: Ola Studio
• Location: Melbourne VIC, Australia
• Construction: Wade Lovich
• Area: 180.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2015
• Photographs: Derek Swalwell

© Derek Swalwell

From the architect. Located in Northcote, Garth was once a dilapidated nineteenth century Italianate Victorian masonry dwelling who has since been restored and added to with an elegant and restrained timber addition to accommodate a young family of five and two energetic dogs.

© Derek Swalwell

Ground Floor Plan

© Derek Swalwell

The original house is one solid form with all rooms contained within a single volume, and on a high level when considering how to add to what was already there, a conscious decision was made to approach the design with architectural contrasts and similarities. The new build adopts the rectilinear forms of the old, but varies their sequence and size to create a series of intimate internal and external spaces. Externally the new addition reads as a reserved collection of rigid forms stacked on top of, or next to one another, while the internal circulation functions as a seamless transition from one defined space to the next.

© Derek Swalwell

Similar in scale of footprint and mass, and both reserved and devoid of unnecessary detail, the two buildings sit side by side with a calm air of confidence and presence within their landscape.

© Derek Swalwell

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via Norwegian Public Roads Administration

Norway’s Public Roads Administration have begun conducting feasibility studies on the installation of what would be the world’s first floating underwater tunnel system. Norway is famous for its fjords, whose incredible depths make traditional bridge building a costly headache. Instead, the most common way to traverse them is through the use of ferries, a system that is both slow and subject to harsh weather conditions. As a result, engineers began looking for a new solution.

via Norwegian Public Roads Administration

The “submerged floating bridges” would avoid these issues by being hung from floating pontoons on the surface and stabilized with trusses, and then sunk 100 feet into the water, a depth large enough to allow for passing naval ships overhead. With minimal above water presence, the tunnels would preserve the landscape’s natural beauty.

Each bridge system would consist of two tunnels for traffic in either direction, like many of the 1,150 traditional traffic tunnels already found in Norway. Officials claim the experience of being inside the tunnel would be no different than in those standard tunnels.

The project has been estimated to cost upwards of $25 billion dollars, with a potential completion in 2035. Studies on how environmental factors would affect the system have just begun, and will determine whether or not the project will receive funding.

Find out more about how the tunnels would work here.

News via Wired, H/T Inhabitat. Images via The Norwegian Public Roads Administration.

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