© <a href='http://ift.tt/2fUZ1R2; Rob Whitworth </a>

Fairy chimneys, also known as hoodoos or tent rocks, are spooky looking spires of rock that range from the height of an average person to over 40 meters. While recently on assignment creating one of his time-lapse videos for Turkish Airlines, photographer and filmmaker Rob Whitworth captured the fairy chimneys found in the Cappadocia region of Turkey in all their eerie charm.

© <a href='http://ift.tt/2fUZ1R2; Rob Whitworth </a>

Simply put, fairy chimneys are formed when thick layers of soft rock are covered by a thin layer of hard rock, with the soft rock continuing to erode through cracks in the layer of hard rock. As the cracks deepen, the fairy chimneys come to be shaped into their pillar-like silhouettes.

© <a href='http://ift.tt/2fUZ1R2; Rob Whitworth </a>

While this geological process happens all over the world—fairy chimneys can be found in Taiwan, the US, New Zealand and Jordan—it is only in Cappadocia where they have been transformed into houses and churches through a sort of human-rock collaboration.

© <a href='http://ift.tt/2fUZ1R2; Rob Whitworth </a>

The magical-looking result of this human-rock partnership was many millennia in the making. The first Cappadocian volcanic rocks were formed millions of years ago, followed by further centuries of natural forces that eroded the rock into their distinctive forms. The human touch to the Cappadocian fairy chimneys took less time than Mother Nature’s, and began out of necessity when early Christians during the Roman period sought refuge within the rocks. On the run from persecution in Rome, upon reaching Cappadocia (the town of Goreme in particular), they discovered the malleability of the rocks and began to carve into them. A system of manmade caves was created throughout the fairy chimneys, which became homes, churches and stables.

© <a href='http://ift.tt/2fUZ1R2; Rob Whitworth </a>

Today, the fairy chimneys serve as a refuge for tourists rather than those fleeing empire-wide persecution, but remain uncannily unique. Some of the chimney caves have been converted into museums and hotels, letting people truly explore a built environment that owes its creation to volcanoes, wind and rain as much as ancient human intervention.

© <a href='http://ift.tt/2fUZ1R2; Rob Whitworth </a>

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Antsy Plum / Coppin Dockray. Image © Katie Lock

Last week, RIBA announced the first two homes shortlisted for this year’s House of the Year Award: Antsy Plum by Coppin Dockray and Outhouse by Loyn & Co Architects. Antsy Plum is a 1960s modernist house located in Antsy, Wiltshire, renovated to reduce carbon emissions by 80 percent; Outhouse, located in Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, is a partly subterranean concrete structure on a sloped site. 

Outhouse / Loyn & Co Architects. Image © Charles Hosea

Since 2001, the RIBA House of the Year Award has recognized the best new house designed by a UK architect annually and is sponsored by Hiscox Home Insurance and Paint and Paper Library. RIBA plans to name seven houses in total to its shortlist and name the 2016 House of the Year on December 15.

News via: Royal Institute of British Architects

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Courtesy of Sam Jacob Studio

The inaugural show at the new London Design Museum, Fear and Love, presents a collection of “reactions to a complex world.” Featuring eleven specially-commissioned installations designed by the likes of OMA/AMO, Hussein Chalayan, Andrés Jaque and Metahaven, the spatial context which frames them is the work of Sam Jacob Studio.

© Max Creasy

According to the architect, the design “plays on the ambiguity at the heart of the exhibition, creating a curving ‘soft baroque’ plan.” A single 190 meter-long curtain winds its way through the gallery to create “a variety of opposing spatial sensations […] with a controlled consistency.”

It forms rooms, loose enclosures and alcoves that shift between open and closed, inside and outside, small and large, dark and light.

“Materially, the design uses a simple palette of curtains to create a visual language that is not easily placed. A dark grey translucent PVC gives a futuristic and industrial feel, while its sharp and sinuous folds suggest a sense of luxury. This is contrasted with a Kvadrat felt curtain that gives sensations of warmth and texture. The combination of these materials creates rich and varying effects of translucency and enclosure.”

© Max Creasy

“At the entrance to the gallery a striking neon and two way mirror totem advertises the exhibition to the foyer of the museum while acting as an atmospheric introduction. The totem appears at first as a blank mirrored box, then as the neon sequence lights up, appears as a deep infinity reflection.”

Signage and communication was developed with graphic designers OK-RM. Fear and Love runs from 24th November 2016 to 23rd April 2017.

Courtesy of Sam Jacob Studio

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© Matt Clayton

• Architects: Scenario Architecture
• Location: Evering Rd, London E5, United Kingdom
• Architect In Charge: Fanis Anastasiadis
• Area: 33.0 m2
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Matt Clayton

• Structural Engineer: Solid Geometry
• Cdm Coordinator: Jackson Cole
• Party Wall: Mike Smith from Metcalfe Briggs Surveyors 
• Contractor: Spinel Contractors

© Matt Clayton

Sustainable extension to a Victorian villa.

Our clients have been living in their ground floor flat for several years, before deciding to renovate it. The existing flat had a very old glass conservatory, which was freezing cold in winter and overheated in summer. It was blocking the light to the inner sitting room and the whole space was laid out in a very dysfunctional way. 

© Matt Clayton

Ground Floor Plan After

© Matt Clayton

The flat had enormous potential being a conversion of a large Victorian villa it had grand dimensions and a very wide back façade. Initially the brief felt a contradictory. On one end our clients were after a modern open extension, which brings plenty of natural light to the living room, but at the same time, they wanted to respect the original proportions and separation of the spaces. 

© Matt Clayton

The design process and feedback from our clients together with discussion with planners on this propsal within conservation are in hackney, resulted in this unique design. A largely glazed timber (sustainably sourced) clad extension houses the kitchen and dining area and facing the garden. Further into the floor plan, the original back wall of the house remained intact with its windows and doors open, creating an internal balcony, and keeping the cosy and more private feel of the lounge.

© Matt Clayton

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© Sergio Grazia

• Architects: archi5
• Location: Rue Jules Verne, 92290 Châtenay-Malabry, France
• Area: 10063.0 m2
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Sergio Grazia

• Client: City of Châtenay Malabry
• Economist, Tce: Egis
• Environmental Engineer: Elioth
• Kitchen Engineer: Alma Consulting
• Cost: 18.700.000 € Excl. Tax.

© Sergio Grazia

From the architect. The goal of this project was the profound modi cation of the school’s image. We proposed an organization based on users comfort. The children are considered as the project center by giving them a qualitative learning place. From a urban scale, la Place de l’Enfance is refurbished and become a new public space and a land- mark for the neighbourhood.

© Sergio Grazia

Second Floor Plan

© Sergio Grazia

The urban façade unifies all parts of the school in a coherent project. Each part (infant school, primary school, leisure center…) remains independent but reunited in a whole renewed identity. The vegetated roof in wooden structure on the first floor connects and uni es the three emergences of existing and refurbished parts. Each volume has its function : infant school on East, primary school on West, leisure centers and common parts on central zone. The roof and light façades, all in wooden structure allowed to lead works with less nuisances in different in an occupied site. The parts were pre-fabricated in workshop to be pieced together quickly and following a dry implementation.

© Sergio Grazia

Ground Floor

© Sergio Grazia

The building façades present high thermic efficiency, acoustic insulation and airtightness which is mandatory for a low consumption project. Our proposition, with its smooth and flexible geometry allows future evolutions of use while preserving the original concept.

© Sergio Grazia

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© Dirk Weiblen

• Architects: LUKSTUDIO
• Location: No. 42 Huakang Street, Tianhe District, Guangzhou, China
• Design Team: Christina Luk, Alba Beroiz Blazquez, Ray Ou, Jin Hong Cai, Shanyun Huang
• Area: 250.0 m2
• Photographs: Dirk Weiblen

© Dirk Weiblen

Located in a residential neighborhood next to the Tianhe district in central Guangzhou, Atelier Peter Fong by Lukstudio revives an empty corner lot into both an office and a cafe. Through a series of clean white volumes, the design purifies the existing chaotic site to create a calm yet inviting atmosphere. 

© Dirk Weiblen

Elevation

© Dirk Weiblen

From the outside, a floating aluminum canopy connects the volumes together, while delineating between the old and the new. Three boxes stick out from the interior, composing a coherent façade while creating areas in-between like urban alleys that draw people in from the street. Each box contains a distinct program; café, brainstorming area, meeting room and a break-out lounge. In contrast to the pristine forms, the voids are painted gray and left with the original structural ceiling.

© Dirk Weiblen

© Dirk Weiblen

Following a process of meticulous spatial carving, openings and niches are shaped within the volumes. Large cut-outs connect the café to the exterior and frame the surrounding greenery. On the inside, white ceiling pockets and wooden niches create a sense of intimacy. The office entry is also carved at its edge to feature a peaceful Zen garden, which becomes a focal point and visually connects the different parts of the office together. 

© Dirk Weiblen

© Dirk Weiblen

The selection of materials further enhances the pure definition of the spaces. Smooth surfaces such as white walls and terrazzo flooring dominate the main space, serving as a canvas to capture light and shadow. The brainstorming box is lined with polycarbonate panels that form a subtle visual connection between the café and the workplace.  Intimate areas are characterized by organic elements; such as continuous timber panels in the brainstorming zone and remnants of an existing brick wall in the lounge.

© Dirk Weiblen

© Dirk Weiblen

Combining artisanal café culture with a collaborative co-working space, Atelier Peter Fong adapts a contemporary social model to a local Chinese neighborhood. The complete transformation of a forgotten site into a destination demonstrates how architectural interventions can activate the streetscape and enhance nearby communities.

© Dirk Weiblen

Plan

© Dirk Weiblen

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© Fernando Gomulya

• Architects: Atelier Cosmas Gozali
• Location: North Jakarta, North Jakarta City, Special Capital Region of Jakarta, Indonesia
• Architect In Charge: Cosmas D. Gozali
• Architect Team: Raymond Djohan, Setya Kurniawan, Rudy Hermanto, Jonathan Chen
• Area: 406.0 m2
• Project Year: 2013
• Photographs: Fernando Gomulya

• Site Area: 240 sqm

© Fernando Gomulya

From the architect. The Residence that located in Sunter area take a concept of resort that combined with modern geometric shapes but still regarding aspects of the locality.

© Fernando Gomulya

With a limited size of the site, the Architect tried to bring a Courtyard concept into the house as a central mass of the building, so the courtyard become a source of light and natural air circulation. Every room in this house have an orientation to the courtyard, so the house become more healthy and energy saving. Furthermore the concept resort is also felt in the foyer area where we’ve been “entered” into the house, but still seem to be outdoors because of the courtyard / open space that creating the impression of there is no boundary between outer space and the inside space. The Architects also applied a sloping roof in this house and used a local material likes exposed karawang stone that intended to bring a locality of Indonesia in this house.

© Fernando Gomulya

The Religious side of home owner also inspired the Architects to translate that essence into the design in more modern context. The shape of triangle that resemble of a Chapel combined with box shape create a contemporary looks that makes this residence unique among its surrounding. Another interesting design is how to process the facade of the building by combining massive and transparent form that obtain from arrangement of the hollow steel to give a modern looks.

Section

The Facade of the building is dominated by the white color to give a simple and clean looks also to create a spacious effect. The used of white color also because it produces a soothing atmosphere not only to the owner but also the surrounding.

© Fernando Gomulya

Ground Floor Plan

© Fernando Gomulya

Just like the exterior, the interior of the residence also features an abstract white color is combined with a touch of natural colors likes brown wood color and terracotta to create a resort looks alike but displayed in more contemporary ambiance. The interior is designed to be simple with the used of built-in furniture to give the impression of compact and integrated with the building. This can be seen on the floor of the reading room where the owners desire to have a reading room accommodated in the form of a built bookcase and attic area which also used as a reading lounge.

© Fernando Gomulya

Interior and landscape area designed connected with the architectural design concept that brings contemporary tropical shades. Landscape design is more simple and modest like dry garden that mixed with some easy maintenance trees so that more clean and give a modern looks.

© Fernando Gomulya

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