© Archive Olgiati

• Architects: Valerio Olgiati
• Location: Laax, Switzerland
• Area: 582.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Archive Olgiati

• Construction Supervisor: Franz Bärtsch, Chur
• Structural Engineer: Patrick Gartmann, Ferrari Gartmann AG, Chur
• Project Manager: Sebastian Carella

© Archive Olgiati

From the architect. The single-family house rises from a 10-20m wide and 90m long lot in Laax, Switzerland. Local building legislation only permitted the construction of volumes aboveground at opposite ends of the property. One end of the area is situated in the “village zone”, while an “agricultural zone” surrounds the other end. Two completely opposite worlds form the context of this house.

© Archive Olgiati

At the historical village limit of the parcel is the so called “city house”. A clear and simple facade underlines the public space lying in front of the house with the volume and rooms orientated towards the village. Located here are the children’s bedrooms and the guest rooms. Towards the agricultural zone, at the other end of the plot, rises the so-called “country house”, a lower lying solid volume that opens towards the landscape.

© Archive Olgiati

The two ends are connected by an underground hall, where the daily life of the family takes place. Two top lights provide natural lighting to the space. All the main rooms in the house are niches and with their gables they transform into caves. Each space is interconnected with a 90m long corridor that forms the spine of the entire building. 

Basement Plan

Ground Floor Plan

Site Section

Exterior and interior walls are all in white in-situ concrete. On the outside, attached tilting windows preserve the clarity and legibility of the two exterior volumes and lived-in niches.

© Archive Olgiati

Outer appearance and inner experience of the house form a contradiction that only mentally can be reconstructed as a unity. The house has an unexpected “grandezza” and homogeneity that is in stark contrast to the compartmentalisation and heterogeneity of the surrounding village.

© Archive Olgiati

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Courtesy of Juan Carlos Sancho

• Architects: Sancho Madrilejos
• Location: 13400 Almadén, Cdad. Real, Spain
• Architect In Charge: Sol Madridejos, Juan Carlos Sancho
• Project Year: 2001
• Photographs: Courtesy of Juan Carlos Sancho

• Assistant Technical Architect: Martín Pozuelo
• Project Leader: Luis Renedo
• Study Collaborators: Luis Renedo, Juan A. Garrido, Emilio Gómez Ramos, Patricia Planell, Marta Toral, Andrey García, Javier Moreno

Courtesy of Juan Carlos Sancho

From the architect. The idea of situating and relating a series of objects in the landscape- Dwelling, Chapel, Hunting pavilion and Guard´s residence- gave the project a dual significance: in addition to the close relationship between landscape, objects and itinerary –between space and objects-, each item had to provide a different response with different emphasis, from the most symbolic to the most silent or private. The unifying thread was to be the concept of the fold: the fold as a hidden generator of different spaces.

Sketch

The Chapel unit is developed around the study and manipulation of a focally tensed “box-fold”.

It is set at the top of a slight hill, turning it into a reference point in the landscape seen from the entrance to the property, at a 2km distance from a lower level, displaying different visions along the entire itinerary. It is oriented slightly off an east-west axis. One goes around the chapel on arrival at the residential zone, making it an entrance turning point. Visitors enter the chapel rising through the western façade until arrival, interiorly, at the focal point in a non-symmetrical front.

Courtesy of Juan Carlos Sancho

Along this walkthrough interval the varying scale of the fold makes the compact volume break offering a closed-compact, open-fragmented sequence of spaces in a constant change of time.

Diagram

The chapel has been thought naked, with no artificial lightning, as in a place where the exterior-interior spatial relationship determine its sense, its attention; only a cross, an onyx lamp and an image in the focal point reinforce the symbolic aspects involved in the project.

Courtesy of Juan Carlos Sancho

By proposing a fold in the box, in the corbusian “boîte”, a single material arises: golden concrete that captures all of the shades demanded to the volume, from capturing the direct light that breaks through an additional plane in the spatial composition, to the transmission of the unstable, coloured scent of dawn.

Model

Light thus takes on the role of a second material in the chapel, a material that contrasts with concrete, fragile, changing, mobile, unstable, dominating or vanishing.

Courtesy of Juan Carlos Sancho

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© Farshid Nasrabadi

• Architects: White Cube Atelier
• Location: Damavand, Tehran Province, Iran
• Area: 600.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2015
• Photographs: Farshid Nasrabadi

• Collaborators: Hengame Rezaee, Danial Akhavian, Rouhollah Noruzi
• Clients: Armin & Ramin Bazargan
• Structural: Majid Bozorg
• Mechanical: Atlantic co.
• Electrical: Amir Salamat

© Farshid Nasrabadi

From the architect. This project is located in hasht-behesht town, Damavand– 45km far from Tehran and is designed for a family of eight. Topography of the site and view to the Mount Damavand were the principal factors which created the form. The 10% slope resulted in dividing the site to 3 parts.

Ground floor is formed at the level of the south yard. Basement is located at level of the middle yard and is connected to the upper yard by ramp and stairs. The third yard is at the lowest level; so the entire volume is a combination of 3 cubes. A part of the lowest cube is buried into soil whereas to the north the swimming pool and sport facilities open to the middle yard, it also forms a terrace related to the living room. The middle cube is divided to two shifted part; western part –including rooms- is oriented to the Mount Damavand and as a cantilevered box has created a big terrace for the 1st floor. Eastern part, housing the kitchen, is shifted toward the south yard and the main entrance. The highest cube is added to integrate the whole building.

© Farshid Nasrabadi

Section

© Farshid Nasrabadi

The building’s organization is a combination of two spatial zones, private zone of rooms and public zone made up of social spaces as living rooms and diverse open spaces. All of spaces enjoy day light and natural ventilation. Master bedroom and the social space of 1st floor enjoy view to Mount Damavand through the cantilevered box and the elongated window. Interior design indicates an interaction of cool materials as seranit and gray furniture and warm materials like wood and yellow accessories.

© Farshid Nasrabadi

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© Zhang Xi

• Architects: EXH Design, Anoffice
• Location: Kyoto, Japan
• Area: 120.88 sqm
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Zhang Xi

© Zhang Xi

From the architect. Mid of the local Japanese residential area in Kyoto, west side of the Royal palace (30 mins walking distance, 10 mins by bike),  EXH design has completed a private house together with Anoffice. The developer has splitted a plot into four slices each 4.2 meters by 15 meters. The client got the last piece at the west side which enjoys a grand view to the neat neighborhood and west sunlight.

© Zhang Xi

© Zhang Xi

The volume of the building is as a result of Kyoto building law – the height and angle of the pitched roof should be designed to allow the view to the sky from the pedestrian.

Sky View Diagram

To “merge” better with the neighbors and stay invisible in the residential area, the building uses exactly the same material like the other houses except the big windows to invite the sunlight and view in. Since the neighbors have their windows closed most of the time, it’s rather exciting to watch the street scene while sitting inside the house, the house is wrapped by a life movie which is happening everyday.

© Zhang Xi

The first floor is a studio , while the second and third floor is a duplex as the main living area with separate entrance in the back. As a prefabricated wood house the structure can be exposed as much as possible inside except the roof and outside wall for fire proof reasons; the same wood panels are used in kitchen cabinet and floor.

© Zhang Xi

Floor Plans

© Zhang Xi

All windows are to connect the house more with the outdoor space, although it’s public; and organized according to the views which selected by the owner and designers. Open the window in the first floor sit at the edge , and look to the mini garden is inspired by the Japanese garden. The second and third floor makes the street space a private show. Curtains play a role in dividing space and defining privacy.

© Zhang Xi

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© Le Hoang

• Architects: i.house
• Location: Hung Yen Province, Vietnam
• Design Team: Chu Ngoc Anh, Le Canh Van, Dang Huy Cuong, Tran Vu Hoang
• Area: 250.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Le Hoang

© Le Hoang

Optimizing the home owner’s aesthetic personality and bringing more green and most relaxing space are the criteria set out for the architects. Based on a current land-site that is cramped and limited in size (90sqm/floor), the architects have used a variety of solutions from creating floor-through space, omitting unnecessary rooms/space, fully maximizing the beautiful views of the urban township and laying unique green parts (garden stands).

© Le Hoang

For the Penthouse apartment, a contemporary design style was applied in combination with the use of several selected, classic industrial-style furnitures.

© Le Hoang

The living room, kitchen and dining room were designed connectedly with large surrounding glass walls, which makes the common space to be frequently illuminated with natural light. The kitchen area with gray-wood tone was designed in minimalist style with the intention to create “a dark background block” for the living room, it contrasts with the common space filled with light and put more highlight to the furnitures with diversified lines. The dining room is also an open library with a separate perspective and is the ideal space for relaxing and reading books for the home owner. A special feature of the apartment is an “invisible” study which is disguised as a bookcase in the dining room. This is a versatile room which is both a study and also can be converted into a bedroom for guests. 

1st Floor Plan

2nd Floor Plan

To be more impressive and closer to the modern style, rustic and high handicraft-like materials were used as rustic tiles (as if they were peeled off from an old building), together with a polishing concrete floor and a copper fireplace with a mound-by-hand shell.

© Le Hoang

On the 2nd floor, the master bedroom is located rightly in central, where it has the widest and most beautiful view in the morning. The bedrooms are surrounded by supporting spaces such as dressing rooms, toilets and an entertainment garden. A unique 5-panel revolving-door creates a link between the bedroom and the open garden. In the garden, thanks to the use of glass railings, the splendid and not-be-restricted views over the urban township create a feeling of no boundary or distant from the urban township below. The array of garden stands is applied to create large green spaces and air conditioning for this place. A Plumeria rubra tree is also carefully selected to avoid storms but still creates a natural highlight. 

© Le Hoang

All of these have contributed to create a Penthouse full of light and green with a very specific personality for the Ecopark urban township, they eliminate the feeling of cramped and dry in apartments here.

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© Michael Wickham

• Architects: ArchiBlox
• Location: Avalon Beach NSW 2107, Australia
• Area: 106.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2015
• Photographs: Michael Wickham, Tom Ross

© Michael Wickham

From the architect. Beyond ArchiBlox’s speedy construction time of 6 weeks, prefab suited the clients desire to tread lightly on the land with the Avalon House project.

© Tom Ross

With modular building the impact on the surrounding environment is heavily reduced during construction. The dwelling is outfitted with a number of green features, including a living roof that minimises rainwater runoff and solar penetration. The green roof also acts as a thermal mass, an east-west orientation that allows cross-ventilation.

© Michael Wickham

Avalon House is beautifully wrapped in FSC certified external blackbutt hardwood timber milled from sustainably forestry methods. By fabricating off-site, ArchiBlox also had careful control over material usage with minimal wastage.

Floor Plan

As with any buildings procurement, it’s not so much about the construction methodology that would affect the relationship with sustainability but more the direction of the architect and the client’s appetite.

© Tom Ross

The major consideration for any sustainable response falls on the siting of the building, i.e. in the southern hemispheres opening up the windows to the north and reduction to the south. Once this is achieved, there are numerous other techniques that can be incorporated which may steadily increase the project budgets and, as such, the client’s appetite.

© Tom Ross

At ArchiBlox they believe that they have the ability of educating their clients to best maximise their sustainable response to their particular site. With this particular project, the main facades face north and given the type of footings used with this particular project, reduction of water flow across the site was a consideration with its proximity to the cliff edge and potential erosion. Building with a concrete slab or strip footings would have been problematic as would have created a barrier to water flow.

© Michael Wickham

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Ordos Art & City Museum / MAD Architects. Image © Shu He

Currently on display at the Aedes Architecture Forum Berlin, “ZÀI XĪNG TǓ MÙ: Sixteen Chinese Museums, Fifteen Chinese Architects,” takes an in-depth look at China’s recent museum boom and its effects on the socio-political and cultural landscape of modern China.

As part of the exhibition, filmmaker Moritz Dirks sat down with 16 of the top architects working in China today, including Wang Shu, Dan Qun of MAD Architects, and Zhu Pei of Studio Pei-Zhu, to discuss the challenges of creating cultural spaces that relate both to the global, digital, urban contexts of the contemporary world and to the strong heritage and identity of Chinese culture.

Continue after the break for the 16 interviews.

Zài Xīng Tǔ Mù. Sixteen Chinese Museums, Fifteen Chinese Architects
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More information about the Aedes Architecture Forum can be found here.

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Courtesy of Mattia Paco Rizzi

• Architects: Mattia Paco Rizzi
• Location: Zingst, Germany
• Area: 19.5 sqm
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Courtesy of Mattia Paco Rizzi , Ken Schluchtmann

• Curator: Regina Tetens for Olympus PhotoArtPath 2016

Courtesy of Mattia Paco Rizzi

The center of the German Baltic town Zingst, received a new and permanent dimension, a space in space and a way out of reality’s forms and perspectives.

Courtesy of Mattia Paco Rizzi

The architectural-artistic pavilion TAUMASCOPIO of the Italian / French Architect Mattia Paco Rizzi links the daily life in the street to something from another world.

© Ken Schluchtmann

People enter the artwork and change for a moment their view and knowledge of reality. Like that TAUMASCOPIO does not only offer to be a playful tool for children but takes adults in a space of meditation.

The work is the perfect room to stop for a moment or take photos to bring home.

Diagram

Section

Sometimes the work almost seems to be dropped from outta space while the inside’s aesthetic in its perfection and beauty reminds of the high-quality design only used in boat and airplane construction. 

Courtesy of Mattia Paco Rizzi

With the two openings to the surrounding world on both ends of the work the people can exchange looks and fragments of themselves.

© Ken Schluchtmann

The two viewers are conceived differently, the first for adult persons, the second for children and people on wheel chair. In this way all various publics can enjoy the kaleidoscopic reflections generated within the device.

Courtesy of Mattia Paco Rizzi

The whole mirror exterior skin is glued to have no apparent fixing point. The pavilion blends in the environment and creates a fluid effect when it’s seen moving.

Courtesy of Mattia Paco Rizzi

The installation will be open for the next three years
TAUMASCOPIO is an artwork in the exhibition Olympus PhotoArtPath 2016 curated by Regina Tetens.

Courtesy of Mattia Paco Rizzi

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© Henning Larsen Architects

Henning Larsen Architects, in collaboration with SLA and Tyréns, has won a competition for the design of a new city hall in Uppsala, Sweden, beating out proposals from Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects, White Arkitekter, Ahrbom & Partners, and 3XN Architects.

The project will include a refurbishment and addition to the existing city hall building, which was built in 1957 and only partially completed in accordance with the original drawings. Henning Larsen Architects’ design will close off the L-shaped building, connecting the old and the new with a glass-roofed courtyard to create a new public gathering place for residents of Sweden’s 4th largest city.

© Henning Larsen Architects

The new 25,000 square meter (270,000 square foot) city hall will reflect the government’s desire for transparency and accessibility, inviting the public inside via an opening connecting the streetscape directly to the interior plaza. The glass-covered courtyard will serve as the new meeting place where public services are programs are located.

© Henning Larsen Architects

At the center of the courtyard, the sculptural addition links old and new departments with a series of footbridges at various levels. This central building will house town hall, meeting and conference facilities, while encouraging sharing and cross-disciplinary problem solving, hallmarks of a modern work environment. Additional program elements include 1,500 flexible workplaces, a cafe with outdoor seating, a restaurant, shops, conference facilities and spaces for public and private exhibitions and events.

© Henning Larsen Architects

The project was chosen by the jury based of the criteria of architectural design, functionality, adaptability, implementation capability, and sustainability, finding Henning Larsen Architects’ proposal “the one which most convincingly unites functional demands with architectural quality.”

© Henning Larsen Architects

© Henning Larsen Architects

© Henning Larsen Architects

“Our vision is a welcoming, modern town hall that promotes dialogue with the citizens, is a functional work place, and a meeting place for townsmen, officials, and politicians. At the same time, we want to preserve the architectural value of the existing building. I think, the winning proposal has solved this equation in a very elegant way,” said Major of Uppsala and jury chair, Marlene Burwick.

© Henning Larsen Architects

© Henning Larsen Architects

The city will now work with Henning Larsen Architects and consultants to further develop the project. Construction on the city hall is scheduled to begin in 2017, with completion anticipated for 2020.

News via Henning Larsen Architects, Arkitekt.se.

© Henning Larsen Architects

© Henning Larsen Architects

© Henning Larsen Architects

• Architects: Henning Larsen Architects
• Location: Stadshuset, 753 21 Uppsala, Sweden
• Client: City of Uppsala
• Landscape: SLA
• Engineer: Tyréns
• Sustainability: BREEAM-SE Excellence
• Type Of Assignment: Invited Competition
• Area: 25000.0 sqm
• Project Year: 0
• Photographs: Henning Larsen Architects

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© Fernando Alda

• Architects: Donaire Arquitectos
• Location: Seville, Spain
• Architect In Charge: Pablo Baruc
• Collaborators: Ana Benítez Morales
• Area: 180.57 sqm
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Fernando Alda

• Budget: 110.000,00 €

© Fernando Alda

The house located in the old city center of Seville, Spain. The project is a low cost intervention in an old small house built in 1958. The house has an irregular shape which is considered one of the characteristics of the area. 

© Fernando Alda

The intervention focuses on creating a modern and functional house. Starting with the research and study of the house typology and how to keep and reinforce its authenticity while at the same time allowing it to answer to contemporary living standards. The main reason for the house ́s adaptation process was to arise its historical footprints using creative resources at the lowest cost possible. 

© Fernando Alda

Plan

© Fernando Alda

This new structure was painted in dark gray to easily make the distinction between what has been renovated and what was left as it is. The new steel structure is not connected with the original wall structure. The newly built wall was painted white as a neutral background, and so is the original brick wall with lime mortar. 

© Fernando Alda

Section

© Fernando Alda

In general, the material that had been used are the same material which represents the characteristics of the area but with contemporary techniques, in order to keep the house related to its zone without it being the odd one. The staircase has been fully covered with glass, to provide natural light. The main structural element consists of an existing brick compound wall that formed all the edges of the house accentuating its natural material palette. the ground floor which consists of the garage, bathroom, and bedrooms. Its slab is completely made of concrete. As for the first floor slab, it is made from wood. The furniture and stairs are made of chestnut wood. 

© Fernando Alda

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