A new collection of five minute-long Tall Stories—developed by the team behind The Urbanist, Monocle 24’s weekly “guide to making better cities—guide the listener through the condensed narratives of a series of architectural projects from around the globe, encompassing their conception, development, use and, in some cases, eventual demise. We’ve selected eight of our favorites from the ongoing series, ranging from London’s Casson Pavilion to Honolulu’s Waikiki Natatorium War Memorial, and the Estadio Centenario stadium in Montevideo.
Fyren is a residential project completed by Omar Gandhi Architect in 2015. It is located in Purcells Cove, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Fyren by Omar Gandhi Architect: “The home is a beacon high atop the hillside. Set atop one of the highest sea-side plateaus in the Halifax area, the residence has clear views of both point pleasant park and the open water. Formally, the home twists and turns towards the..
Let’s face it, becoming a licensed architect is not for everyone, and is certainly not necessary to having a fulfilling career. Becoming a licensed architect is not easy. For many, it’s not a decision; becoming licensed has always been the plan. For others, there are lots of factors involved that make pursuing licensure a difficult decision. It’s an important decision to make, and will affect your life, personally and professionally. Professional support for pursuing an architecture license may vary from firm to firm, but it is very important that everyone who wants to be licensed get some form of support from their employer. From the smallest firms to the largest, architecture as an industry has a responsibility to architects of tomorrow to do their part to achieve that ultimate professional goal of becoming an architect.
In our webcomic, Architexts, the character Scott decided it was time to get licensed, and started taking the Architect Registration Exams. Over the course multiple comics, you can follow Scott’s path to licensure; from making the decision to take the exams, studying, taking the first exam, waiting for results, studying, studying, studying… all the things that every licensed architect takes. Can you relate to Scott’s experiences? Let us know, we’d love to hear from you for our next book project, Architects, LOL.
The main objective of the project is to provide natural light to the entrance hall and the corridor and to bring closer the kitchen and the living room.
Floor Plan Before
Floor Plan After
The kitchen becomes a space of social character linked to the entrance of the house, extending its use beyond the mere act of cooking and eating. The project promotes a domestic space of relationship while linking visually and programmatically the hall and the kitchen.
A 45 degrees oriented bedroom introduces a new direction in the use of the apartment, articulating the hall and the kitchen. This movement is reflected in the way the apartment is used, in the arrangement of the pavements and in the treatment of the vertical surfaces.
Axonometric
The kitchen ceramic tiling folds out to the entrance area, defining a space “in between two” uses, “in between two” materialities, bringing natural light up to the entrance door of the apartment. The same material is also used in the bathrooms, with variations in the joints colors: grey in hall and kitchen, red and blue in bathrooms.
The courtyard natural light enters into the hall through longitudinal voids made in the top of the walls. Plywood details are given special attention, making visible the assembly of the elements, defining the transitions between materials and planes through the graduation of shades and thicknesses.
Cabin Straumsnes is a private home located in Straumsnes, Tingvoll, Norway. It was designed by Rever & Drage Architects in 2015. Cabin Straumsnes by Rever & Drage Architects: “Paradoxically the new main cabin at Årsund was built after the annex. This due to the fact that the original cabin, with exception of the annex, was removed to make way for the new-build. Moreover, the annex was drawn by another architect..
An aluminium foam staircase doglegs up the centre of Italian jewellery brand Repossi’s flagship store, designed by Dutch architecture firm OMA on Paris’ exclusive Place Vendôme (+ slideshow). (more…)
Three corrugated cylinders are raised on stilts above subterranean living spaces and gardens to form this Madrid house by Z4Z4, which is captured in a science-fiction-inspired photoshoot (+ 360-degree videos). (more…)
From the architect. Nestled in the privacy of a hemlock forest, FAHOUSE presents an amazing building that seems to emerge from a children’s story. Exploiting the contrasts between opacity and light, the architect Jean Verville develops a graphic assemblage, which rises like two giant conifers, intensifying the dreamlike aspect of this architectural proposal. Derived from the archetypal figure of the house, the double triangular prism perfectly illustrates childhood characterizing the whole development of this project.
Conceived for a couple of young professionals and two children, the cottage revisits the family home settings to explore an imaginary closely linked to the site, its occupants and their actual way of living the family life. The close complicity with these clients during the design process, and the playfulness distinguishing their parent-children relationship, empower the architect to design a new way of living their reality. Throughout the construction, the collaboration between the architect, the family and the entrepreneur promotes a shared enthusiasm resulting in building quality and flawless finishing.
The two houses profile emerges. The architect emphasizes the elongated shape of the land by a promenade along the blind wall of the first volume. A wide exterior staircase revealing the natural slope leads to the ground floor and welcomes newcomers under an imposing cantilever defining the covered terrace. The large opaque door opens into a vibrant lobby that extends to the mysterious forest. The living area enjoys glass walls, which seem to dematerialize and eliminate the boundary between architecture and landscape, allowing nature to fabulously slip inside. Already the house comes to life and the magic of the place operates.
The architectural deployment of the staircase articulates the ground floor while governing the access parade to the perched areas of the two houses. The first, the toddlers’, nestled in the enchanted forest, displays a large bunk bed welcoming friends to share fantastic nights. A few stairs jump leads to the second, the parents’ house, which looks like a beehive composed of a succession of cells each offering a distinctive ritual. In a surprising mirror effect, the bedroom doubles as a bathroom offering two simple and soothing volumes suspended between earth and sky. In contrast, the graphic display of the impressive family shower room promises a different experience for daily ablutions. The upper floor evokes the lair of the whale to brighten the imagination and allow for a colorful world of unbelievable adventures.
