© Rodolpho Reis

• Architects: Oficina Conceito Arquitetura
• Location: Av. América, 279 – Floresta, Porto Alegre – RS, 90440-020, Brasil
• Equipe: Rafael Kopper, Anna Falkenberg Muller, Maurício Ambrosi Rissinger, Daniel Dagort Billig, Guilherme Nogueira e Tiago Scherer.
• Interiores: Rafael Kopper
• Area: 748.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2015
• Photographs: Rodolpho Reis

• Construction: MKS EMPREENDIMENTOS
• Electric Installation: T. Peres Instalações 

© Rodolpho Reis

A residential avenue, built on lot 279 America Avenue, quiet and very green, the building Casa America is located in a mixed-used neighborhood in the city of Porto Alegre.

© Rodolpho Reis

The program was largely developed due to the extremely small dimensions of the land, with only seven meters and seventy of frontage by thirty meters of depth, causing the structure of the building addorsed the two boundaries, and thus creating two large blind gables. The resulting lack of side windows also made two apartments delimited per floor, separated by a light well, avoiding large linear extensions without natural lighting and ventilation in a single unit. Another required condition resulting from the blind gables was to extend the full length of the facades, using frames in large format and railings in clear laminated glass. This frontal amplitude, beyond the scope to offset the deficit caused by the gables, It was also designed in a way that allows a better framework of the arboreal area from the resident’s perspective, thusly to find luxury in such a way of insight in nature, and not in ornamental exhibition.

© Rodolpho Reis

© Rodolpho Reis

Casa America is a scaled-down building, but humane, loaded with sensoriality both externally and internally. The building has a reduced condominial area, with six floors where there are parking spaces, it also comes with a rooftop common area on the last floor and six residential units. These are divided by three types of typologies, with areas ranging between 72 and 115 square meters of private area and plants that allow different possibilities of internal layouts, it comes with just a bathroom and a toilet built internally. This choice is aimed to give its residents freedom to choose their apartment space, whether its internal layout, the number of bedrooms, or the dimensions of each environment, thus reflecting their life styles.

© Rodolpho Reis

The project aims to respect the importance of the condominial areas on our daily routine, such areas often overlooked from the architectural point of view, and which comprises an important transition zone between the urban chaos and the coziness of our home. For this purpose we created the same sensorial identity starting from the facade throughout the condominial areas, garage, free movement access to the apartments and the vegetated rooftop terrace, using organic materiality with warm colors and artistic interventions to create energetic and warm intimacy. This energy created is intended not only to make the resident feel at home from only inside his home, but also from the moment you walk through the garage of the building. Hence the building’s name: House America.

© Rodolpho Reis

On the facade, done with simple lines and neutral forms, you can find the contrast of the materiality, seeking for an aesthetic language that displays it in a harmonious way from the past to the present. The presence of rustic clay bricks expresses the idea of creating an atmosphere not only for comfort but also of nostalgia to the residents of the building and also it’s area, bringing us back to the construction techniques. As a counterpoint to the brick rusticity, a volume is designed slightly offset from black porcelain, together with the glass panel’s facade, explore and reveal the aesthetic differences of each material, offering a distinguished contrast of textures and reflections.

© Rodolpho Reis

Compensating for the lack of common equipment, for instance a ballroom or gym (spaces which are offered in abundance in the neighborhood where the building is located), a space for leisure and introspection was design on the top floor with a vegetated terrace with technology that does not require daily watering nor major maintenance, due to the continuous presence of water and nutrients in its base. This space, in addition to offering residents the opportunity to enjoy a full view of the city, it provides the surroundings of the neighbor’s buildings a nicer view when compared to conventional roofs, increasing the amount of green areas to their daily landscapes.

© Rodolpho Reis

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Five notable projects have been selected as finalists for the 2016 International Highrise Award (IHA). One of the world’s most important architectural prizes for highrises, the award is given to projects that exemplify the criteria of future-oriented design, functionality, innovative building technology, integration into urban development schemes, sustainability, and cost-effectiveness.

Led by 2014 IHA winner Stefano Boeri, the competition’s world-class jury noted the significant trend in high-rise development away from office buildings and towards residential towers, as well as the geographic dichotomy of the finalists.

“Asia versus America is an interesting conclusion at this point – they are the defining forces on the map,” commented jury member Ole Scheeren. “In Asia you can see the impact of the tropical, climatic and environmental consequences are very well translated into new types of residential high-rises. In New York the finalists all show some way of power-statement.”

See the 5 finalists with comments from the jury, after the break.

Four World Trade Center, New York, USA / Maki & Associates

© Maki & Associates, TECTONIC. Courtesy of the International Highrise Award

The Four World Trade Center (New York/USA) by Maki & Associates is the second new tower, after the 7 World Trade Center, that was completed on Ground Zero after the attacks on 11 September. The office tower blends quietly and unpretentiously into its significant neighbourhood. The glass facade reflects the surroundings so perfectly that the contours of the tower practically dissolve. This effect allows the precious building ground to be used commercially whilst granting due space to this emotional location. “The mirrored façade and the sculptural qualities of this project are executed so outstanding, that there are moments of disappearance when the perspective is changed. This immateriality seems to give an answer to the question: What can you create of nothingness?” (Jury member Ole Scheeren)

432 Park Avenue, New York, USA / Rafael Viñoly Architects

© Viñoly, DBOX. Courtesy of the International Highrise Award

Since the completion of the shell construction in October 2014, the slender tower 432 Park Avenue (New York/USA) rises significantly above all other buildings in northern Manhattan. The building by Rafael Viñoly Architects is currently the highest residential high-rise in the world and the third-highest building in the United States. Innovative support structure techniques enable this dizzying height on a relatively small ground plan. With these extremely slender proportions, the project serves as an example of new towers in the densest metropolises in the world.

For Jury-Chair Stefano Boeri it is evident that “Viñoly wanted to create a landmark, he wanted to establish a new prototype in high-rise-building. His super slender needle with the astonishing slenderness ratio of 1:15 is the sheer icon of the idea of a high-rise and will definitely be copied all over the world.” 

SkyHabitat, Singapore / Safdie Architects

© Safdie Architects, Edward Hendricks. Courtesy of the International Highrise Award

The white residential sculpture SkyHabitat (Singapore) by Safdie Architects consists of two stepped twin towers, connected by means of three sky bridges. Situated in a green park landscape, the building with its open structure is adapted to the requirements of the extreme climate. At the same time, it offers its residents appealing outdoor and communal spaces. The project is therefore a high-quality example of new residential forms in the tropics. 

For Peter Cachola Schmal, Director of the DAM the project “shows a new and fascinating concept of the vertical city. It is a machine for living, with certain high-class amenities, like balconies for everyone, skygardens, pools etc. for all its middle-class residents. It does take residential housing to a new level.”

SkyVille@Dawson, Singapore / WOHA Architects

© WOHA Architects, Patrick Bingham-Hall. Courtesy of the International Highrise Award

SkyVille @ Dawson (Singapore) by WOHA with 960 apartments is an exceptional example of social housing in Singapore. The flexibly designed units on the extremely dense complex are grouped into little “villages” that share various communal spaces. Little communities are formed and solidarity is strengthened. “This is what I like about it: You’re in a high-rise building but they break down the units and you have this sort of a sky village on top of two other sky villages and you are part of a whole, but also part of a smaller unit at the same time”, said Jury member Brigitte Shim. This type of high-rise therefore makes a special contribution to counteracting anonymity in the megacities of our time. 

VIΛ 57 West, New York, USA / BIG

© Bjarke Ingels Group, Nic Lehoux. Courtesy of the International Highrise Award

The 136-metre-high hybrid of a classical high-rise and a traditional European perimeter development VIA 57 West (New York/USA), situated right by the Hudson River, rises up in the form of a silver, shimmering tetrahedron. “The project is outstanding in its interpretation of a New York block – this is what makes it really interesting” (chair of the jury, Stefano Boeri). Under its steely roof skin, over 700 apartments are grouped around an interior courtyard with greenery, which serves as a tranquil oasis for spending sociable hours within this industrial neighbourhood with a motorway, a power plant, and a waste processing facility. In addition, the prototype of a “courtscraper” with its “innovative design” (Thomas Schmengler, Jury member) on the western edge of Manhattan offers all residents an unobstructed view of the river, due to its unique shape.

The full jury for the award is as follows:

Jury Chair Stefano Boeri (Stefano Boeri Architetti, Milan), Lamia Messari-Becker (civil engineer , Professor at the University of Siegen), Ole Scheeren (architect, Buro-OS, Beijing/Berlin), Brigitte Shim (architect, Shim-Sutcliffe Architects, Toronto), Horst R. Muth (Head of Project Management at Deka Immobilien GmbH, Frankfurt/Main), Peter Cachola Schmal (Director of Deutsches Architekturmuseum, Frankfurt/Main), Thomas Schmengler (CEO of Deka Immobilien GmbH, Frankfurt/Main) and Felix Semmelroth (Former Deputy Mayor in charge of Culture and Science for the City of Frankfurt/Main). Substitutional Jury members were: Claudia Meixner (architect, MEIXNER SCHLÜTER WENDT Architekten, Frankfurt am Main) and Holger Techen (civil engineer, imagine structure, Frankfurt am Main).

Past winners of the award include Boeri Studio’s Bosco Verticale in 2014; 1 Blight Street by Ingenhoven Architects and Architectus in 2012; The Met Bangkok by WOHA Architects in 2010; The Hearst Tower by Foster + Partners in 2008; Torre Agbar by Ateliers Jean Nouvel in 2006; and De Hoftoren by Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates in 2004.

The winning project will be awarded by the City of Frankfurt/Main together with Deutsches Architekturmuseum (DAM) and DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale at Frankfurt’s Paulskirche on November 2, 2016.

News via The International Highrise Award.

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© Laure Joliet

• Architects: Design, Bitches
• Location: Echo Park, Los Angeles, CA, United States
• Interior Design: Design, Bitches
• Client: Button Mash (Jordan Weiss & Gabe Fowlkes)
• Area: 4000.0 ft2
• Project Year: 2015
• Photographs: Laure Joliet

• Structural Engineer: Tuscher Engineering Group, Inc.
• Mep Engineer: CRO Engineering Group, Inc.
• General Contractor: Barling Construction
• Artist Collaboration (Wallpaper & Brand Graphics): Joseph Harmon

© Laure Joliet

Program
A full-service restaurant and bar with a vintage arcade. Button Mash is intended to be an integral and vibrant neighborhood hub for all ages with a design that showcases a careful curation of arcade games and stellar creative cuisine. 

© Laure Joliet

The layout is segmented into three distinct areas that are visually interconnected and geometrically interlocking; each with varying seating types that encourage interaction, exchange, and shared experiences.

© Laure Joliet

Design
Located in a ubiquitous strip mall along Sunset Boulevard in Echo Park, the neighborhood is rich with a varied history and recent transformative change.  The overall design is rooted in multiple LA-centric time periods with nods to the 1980s and 1990s in material and color choices, mixed with the local haunt feel resonant in film noir classics like “Chinatown”. These inspirations and influences intertwine with post-modern design and pop cultural references to create a maximal timeless experience- an Elysian Drift. 

© Laure Joliet

The bold exterior paint color is historically common in the neighborhood where a variety of bright spots punctuate this stretch of Sunset Boulevard.  A kaleidoscopic journey through layers of transparency, reflectivity and pattern pull you in through a portal cut into the strip mall’s exterior, past the hand painted Talavera tiles and round window that bring visitors into an otherworldly tunnel filled with a dense custom wallpaper by artist Joseph Harmon. 

Plan

On the interior banquettes are covered with camel colored vinyl and plywood paneling; smokey mirror, marmoleum, and dark brown are all nods to the noir mystique and a contemporary version of police academy haunts of the past.  Interior details reflect a mash-up of both local real and fictionalized influences juxtaposing post-modern laminate with brass foot rails, marmoleum and oak wood paneling, and vermilion powder coated steel with camel colored vinyl.  Unusual material exploration is playfully scattered throughout the space from painted battens on wood paneling, hand-painted artwork to pyramidal acoustic foam and 3D coffered ceiling patterns made of homosote.   

© Laure Joliet

“This part of Sunset Boulevard is home to colorful punctuations in an otherwise unassuming and unspectacular streetscape,” Johnson and Rudolph explained. “A vibrantly eccentric internal life has always marked what we love about the neighborhood.”

© Laure Joliet

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The Square / LAVA. Image Courtesy of LAVA

The Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design and the European Centre for Architecture, Art, Design and Urban Studies have named LAVA (Laboratory for Visionary Architecture) as the recipients of their 2016 European Prize for Architecture.

One of Europe’s most prestigious architecture awards, The European Prize for Architecture is given annually to architects who have ‘blazoned a new path and direction for an architecture that is deeply humane and committed to forward the principles of European humanism’.

Chris Bosse, Alexander Rieck and Tobias Wallisser, LAVA founders. Image Courtesy of LAVA

“LAVA successfully uses imagination and intellect combined with social forces and the latest building technologies as both theme and apparatus of their designs, creating a body of work that explores and expresses architecture as a risk-taking, visceral experience,” said Chicago Athenaeum president Christian Narkiewicz-Laine.

“In the process, we come to experience architecture anew: from how it is imagined to how it is drawn, to the challenges and dynamics that define forward-thinking about time, place, and the environment, and how buildings and urban ideas become constructed and take shape as part of a collective public experience.”

Founded by Chris Bosse, Alexander Rieck and Tobias Wallisser, LAVA operates as an international think tank with offices in Berlin, Stuttgart, and Sydney. Recent completed projects include the Philips company headquarters in Eindhoven, a terrace house renovation and an airport retail fit out in Sydney, as well as a university master plan Riyadh, a youth sports hostel in Bayreuth, mixed use projects in Berlin and Hangzhou, and villas in HCMC currently under construction.

“We are very pleased to be recognised as architects who are not only interested in the production of square metres but interested in the broader development of the discipline, constantly trying to shift boundaries and to redefine what architecture can achieve today. How can we create spaces suitable for contemporary lifestyles and how can we contribute towards an environment that offers quality for everyone?” commented LAVA Director Tobias Wallisser.

A formal ceremony presenting the award will be held in Athens, Greece on September 23rd, 2016. Last year prize was awarded to Santiago Calatrava, with previous awards going to Italian architect Alessandro Mendini in 2014, Finnish architect Marco Casagrande in 2013, TYIN tegnestue Architects in 2012, Graft Architekten in 2011 and Bjarke Ingels in 2010.

Check out the gallery below to see some of LAVA’s work.

News via The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies, LAVA.

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© Carlos Berdejo Mandujano

• Architects: Apaloosa Estudio de Arquitectura y Diseño
• Location: Tikal, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chis., Mexico
• Project Architect: Luis Armando Gómez Solorzano
• Project Area: 143.0 m2
• Project Year: 2015
• Photographs: Carlos Berdejo Mandujano

• Design: Arq. Daniel Guadalupe Terán Orozco
• Drawings: Arq. Xochitl Abigaíl López Trujillo
• Structural Design: Apaloosa Estudio de Arquitectura y Diseño
• Structural Development: Alexander Coutiño de los Santos
• Renderings: Arq. Carlos Mario Pereyra Zenteno

© Carlos Berdejo Mandujano

From the architect. Do you know the architecture of Chiapas? A house with identity, adapted to its regional and bioclimatic context, always reflecting a constructive honesty in its elements and materials.

© Carlos Berdejo Mandujano

In a site 7.00×15.00 meters, with a single front facing east and surrounded by social housing; we design a house with few resources but with an intensive contextual and formal study.

Section

The facade does not formally respond to any reading of commercial housing, because it is closed to the outside through small openings on the ground floor and large lattice walls surrounding the terraces of each bedroom. A base of exposed concrete confines the ground floor, while brick walls generate the upstairs envelope. The 143.00 m2 of interiors are distributed among the living, dining room, kitchen, bathroom, laundry room, terrace and vertical core; on the ground floor.

© Carlos Berdejo Mandujano

The upper level houses two bedrooms with dressing room, a bathroom and the master bedroom with bathroom and dressing room. One of the main studies of this house was the natural light, which maximizes the openings in bathrooms, the vertical circulation and the double height dining room, from which the silhouettes of brick vaults are projected on a canvas of exposed polished concrete.

© Carlos Berdejo Mandujano

The constant circulation of winds is used in social areas and corridors of the house due to the openings at each end and domes allowing the circulation of hot air. Inside the house there are a couple of gardens, one divides the living and dining areas and the other covers the void produced by the stairs.

© Carlos Berdejo Mandujano

In developing a proposal with a contextual character, we keep a close relationship with the materials and techniques of the region, this means that the material and human resources should not impact the expenditure of energy and therefore the economic resource

Section

The project concept is based on the study of the context, so that both the site and its resources were the guiding principles of the proposal thus generating a character and identity that the state of Chiapas has lost with the need for housing and their promoters. The brick walls and exposed concrete throughout the ground floor as a structural base solution were the references that provide identity and remembrance of the construction processes of yesteryear in the locality.

© Carlos Berdejo Mandujano

This house with regional character represents a constructive honesty not only outside, but also inside. The base made of exposed concrete walls on the ground floor demonstrates both structural and visual stability. The synergy between brick and concrete clearly identifies the context in which this property is developed.

© Carlos Berdejo Mandujano

The technique of leaving the concrete and brick exposed displays the development and design of their structures. An example is the brick vaults resting on IPR double height beams, supported by an exposed concrete wall. To devise a double height area in such a small property represented a challenge for the project and also a satisfaction as we were not forced to sacrifice other spaces.

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© Alice Glancey

“The annals say: when the monks of Clonmacnoise / Were all at prayers inside the oratory / A ship appeared above them in the air. / The anchor dragged along behind so deep / It hooked itself into the altar rails.”[1]

These words by Irish poet Seamus Heaney had a profound impact on the work of architects Sheila O’Donnell and John Tuomey, who cited the poem as their inspiration for the Glucksman Gallery – a space commissioned by the University of Cork. Named for its patron Lewis Glucksman (a Wall Street trader and philanthropist), the Glucksman Gallery was completed in 2005 and nominated for a Stirling Prize that same year. Thanks to its outstanding site-specific design, the building has since become one of the most celebrated works of modern architecture in Ireland. 

© Alice Glancey

Located at the gateway to the university campus, adjacent to a limestone escarpment in an ornamental garden on the bank of the River Lee, the brief required a building that would be sensitive to its green surroundings. Indeed, previous proposals for development had been rejected due to environmental concerns. O’Donnell + Tuomey’s solution was a vertically-orientated building with a small footprint to minimize disruption to the natural landscape. They assured the President of the university, Gerry Wrixon, that the footprint of the building would be restricted to the area of the two existing tennis courts on the site, and that they would not cut down so much as a single tree.[2]

© Alice Glancey

The resulting building comprises three levels of open exhibition space which host temporary shows as well as providing as a home for the university’s permanent art collection. It also houses lecture facilities, a café, and a shop. At ground level, a limestone podium leads visitors to a glass lobby which provides access to the galleries. This podium also continues past the building to the river, connecting the campus path with a riverside walk to establish a physical link between the university and its environment. The podium, which the architects describe as “both landscape and building, plinth and pathway,”[3] recalls the architectural promenade of James Stirling’s Neue Staatsgalerie, a project which O’Donnell + Tuomey worked on before establishing their own practice.

© Alice Glancey

Third Floor Plan

Their time working under Stirling had a formative impact on their careers. Having met while studying at University College Dublin (where they both later became Professors), O’Donnell + Tuomey joined Stirling’s office shortly after qualifying. Despite leaving after just a few years to establish the architectural partnership O’Donnell + Tuomey (with great success – they were awarded the RIBA Gold Medal in 2015 and have been nominated for the Stirling Prize five times to-date), their work continues to embody ideas incubated in Stirling’s practice. They inherited, for example, his “passion for a richness of color, material and texture,”[4] qualities which continue to characterize their designs, not least that of the Glucksman Gallery.

© Alice Glancey

Fourth Floor Plan

Each of the building’s architectural components are differentiated through the use of contrasting materials. Nestled amongst the trees, the steel frames of the galleries are wrapped in Angelim de Campagna timber (a sustainably-sourced hardwood) to reflect the building’s natural context, while the window frames use galvanized steel to reduce the effects of weathering. The interlocking planes of the upper façade sit on a concrete platform which is raised above the ground on piloti. The platform features dramatic cantilevers twelve meters deep which, Tuomey explained, “allowed us to place the galleries close up against the trees without damaging their roots.”[5]

© Alice Glancey

The concrete platform is composed of granite aggregate, sandblasted to reveal flecks of mica which allow it to glisten as it catches sunlight. The transparency of the glass lobby below helps to separate the mass of the galleries from the ground, thereby reducing the impact—both physically and conceptually—of the building to the landscape. The limestone podium, meanwhile, references both the geology of the site and the traditional limestone buildings of Cork.

© Alice Glancey

The galleries feature large windows which draw the surroundings into the exhibition space, inviting visitors to reflect on the formal qualities of nature alongside the artworks on display. As Kenneth Frampton observed, “this space constantly compels one to shift and adjust one’s attention, ever divided between the stability of culture and the volatility of nature”.[6] Several of the windows are carefully aligned to frame specific views, namely the river, the university and the city. According to Tuomey, this was intended to place the viewer within a wider context: “you never forget that you are in the world no matter where you are.”[7]

© Alice Glancey

As with the majority of their projects to date, O’Donnell + Tuomey have been content to allow the program of the Glucksman Gallery take precedence over its architecture, in keeping with their belief that “the event is what happens in the building, not the building itself.”[8] For instance, the expansive windows of the galleries flood the exhibition spaces with natural light – a pleasant spatial experience but one which poses challenges for both curators and conservators of art. Light-sensitive works could be easily damaged by the sun’s rays and the spaces are too bright to show film work. To solve this problem, O’Donnell + Tuomey created ‘close control’ galleries (so-called as their environmental conditions could be easily regulated) located in the core of the building. Enveloped by the larger galleries around the periphery of the building, the close control galleries are shielded from sunlight by the interior walls, allowing for a greater diversity of exhibition content.

Section

The architects have repeatedly referred to the Glucksman Gallery as a “celestial vessel,” alluding to Heaney’s aforementioned poem. Tuomey described the imagery of the poem as a “direct visual reference for us in our idea of the building – a ship straining above a stone terrain.”[9] The parallels are clear: the smooth curve of the galleries’ timber cladding bears a strong resemblance to the hull of a ship, and the structure sits on a base of limestone. Another, perhaps more direct, source of inspiration came from a visit to an exhibition of a Viking ship in Dublin. The ship, suspended amongst the trees to allow visitors to walk beneath, was described by Tuomey as one of the most beautiful things he had ever seen.[10]

© Alice Glancey

References
[1] Heaney, Seamus. “Lightenings viii”. Nobel Prize. Accessed 16 August, 2016. [access]
[2] O’Donnell, Sheila and John Tuomey. O’Donnell + Tuomey: Selected Works. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2007. p.160
[3] “Glucksman Gallery University College Cork”. O’Donnell + Tuomey. Accessed 16 August, 2016. [access]
[4] “The Story Behind the Architects”. RIBA. Accessed 17 August, 2016. [access]
[5] Ibid. Tuomey. p.58
[6] “Glucksman Gallery”. O’Donnell + Tuomey. Accessed 16 August, 2016. [access]
[7] Ibid.
[8] Lappin, Sarah A. Full Irish: New Architecture in Ireland. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2009. p.210
[9] Ibid. Tuomey. p.59
[10] O’Toole, Shane. “Seeing the bigger picture”. The Sunday Times. 27 March, 2005. p.18
[11] Tuomey, John. Architecture, Craft and Culture: Reflections of the work of O’Donnell + Tuomey. Kinsale: Gandon Editions, 2008. Craft, p.30

• Architects: O’Donnell + Tuomey Architects
• Location: Lewis Glucksman Gallery, University College, Cork, Ireland
• Architects In Charge: Sheila O’Donnell, John Tuomey
• Area: 2300.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2005
• Photographs: Alice Glancey

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In this TED Talk, co-founder of MASS Design Group, Michael Murphy, presents the question “what more can architecture do?” as the springboard philosophy behind the practice. Following a trajectory of MASS’s projects, Murphy reflects upon their practice’s progress in seeing architecture as an opportunity to invest in the future of communities.

Each project seeks to consider what Murphy calls the “human handprint” of buildings, and his discussion includes the LoFab building process in Rwanda, healthier hospitals in Haiti, and a visually communicative campus for the deaf community in the US. Focusing on more than just the final design, Murphy explains how a building process that sources and hires regionally can “improve the local economy and inspire dignity” in the communities in which they work. Although the projects covered vary in scale, context, and client, they all pursue the same ethos that “simple, site specific architectural designs can make a building that heals.”

To conclude the talk, Murphy reveals images of MASS Design Group’s latest proposal, the Memorial to Peace and Justice, which will be erected in Montgomery, Alabama, to recognize and memorialize the United States’ dark racial history.

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© Juan Antonio Monsalve

• Architects: Alberto Burckhard + Carolina Echeverri
• Location: Girardot, Girardot, Cundinamarca, Colombia
• Design And Construction: Alberto Burckhardt C, Carolina Echeverri B. Arquitectos
• Project Area: 2761.0 m2
• Photographs: Juan Antonio Monsalve

• Structural Design: Seteyco-Ing. Joaquin Fidalgo
• Site Survey: Ing. Carlos Arango
• Hydraulic Design: Ingehidrar S.A.S, Ing. Luis Alberto Fernandez
• Electrical: Ing. Enrique Mejia Coomenares
• Wood Framing: Wilson Bello
• Metal Framing: Vialbo
• Contractor: Jacinto Mora

© Juan Antonio Monsalve

The project is located on the Santo Domingo plateau, Municipality of Nilo, Cundinamarca Department. The plateau dominates the place and views of mountain profiles form a beautiful environment. The climate is tropical, with temperatures between 27 ° and 38 ° and in some seasons with pleasant breezes. The houses are located in two neighboring lots overlooking a lake; their areas are 3,380 m2 and 2,761 m2 respectively.

© Juan Antonio Monsalve

The direct commission of the clients, two brothers, consisted of two houses with a unique architectural design, for each of their families, and to establish a house on each lot.

Plan

Section

The definition of the program required large areas with a scheme of two floors, whose main spaces have been distributed as follows:

© Juan Antonio Monsalve

•A large entrance courtyard that links in an L-shape the volume of the social area with the volume containing the double-height space of the stairs and 2nd level rooms.

© Juan Antonio Monsalve

•The social volume houses the living area, dining room and kitchen, in direct communication with the pool. The area becomes a lookout over the mountains and the edge of the pool is responsible for defining the frame for the landscape. Alongside is the wing that houses the two secondary bedrooms that open onto a garden on one of its long facades, and the other on a reflecting pool which in turn is the element that articulates the rest of the space.

© Juan Antonio Monsalve

© Juan Antonio Monsalve

•The second floor is conceived as the private part of the houses, where the main bedrooms are located, which in turn extend over the decks constructed as green roofs.

Section

Plan

The proposed architecture is of a minimalist reading, with volumes mainly defined by the horizontal planes. These planes, built in concrete, are the characteristic feature of the project. The roof plane of the social area folds perpendicularly on itself twice, forming the volume of the second floor. Other vertical planes are constituted by enclosures with wooden window frames and shutters. The gardens designed and planted related to the spaces contain the houses so that the domain of the site is through views and climate management.

© Juan Antonio Monsalve

The orientation of the houses responds to views and implantation on the edge of the plateau. The tropical climate is handled with generous openings, allowing the circulation of the breeze. The sun is screened by vertical wooden blinds, creating patterns of light that are reflected on concrete and wood surfaces featured in the project.

© Juan Antonio Monsalve

The materials present in the project are mainly architectural concrete and woodwork. Some planes include plastering and painting, the finish for the floors is a veneer of the same color palette as concrete and wood, but easy to maintain.

© Juan Antonio Monsalve

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Self-proclaimed “Instagram purist” Olivier Martel Savoie (@une_olive) has created #olive_libraries, a series of Instagram photographs portraying libraries around the world, using only the camera on his iPhone. Over the past two years, Savoie has traveled from his home city of Montréal, to Berlin, Amsterdam, Budapest, Rome, Riga, Paris, Moscow, and several other cities photographing the stunning architecture of libraries. Encountering language barriers and even intense security, Savoie’s dedication to taking the perfect photo has resulted in a stunning collection of images.

Experience the beauty of libraries around the world, after the break.

National Library and Archives of Québec, Montréal. Image © Olivier Martel Savoie, @une_olive

National Library of Russia, St Petersburg. Image © Olivier Martel Savoie, @une_olive

Latvia National Library, Riga. Image © Olivier Martel Savoie, @une_olive

Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm Center Library, Berlin. Image © Olivier Martel Savoie, @une_olive

Alcatraz Library, San Francisco,jpg. Image © Olivier Martel Savoie, @une_olive

Klementinum Library, Prague. Image © Olivier Martel Savoie, @une_olive

Maison de la littérature Library, Québec. Image © Olivier Martel Savoie, @une_olive

BME OMIKK Library, Budapest. Image © Olivier Martel Savoie, @une_olive

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© archivisuals.dk

Denmark-based Studio LOKAL has won the competition for the design of a residential tower in Copenhagen, with The Hanging Gardens, its proposal for a merger of the historic brick buildings of Carlsberg with the concept of a personal garden for each resident. 

Located on the site of a former vegetable market, the proposal aims to return to these homegrown roots by encouraging residents to grow their own produce in one of the tower’s gardens. Furthermore, the ground floor of the building will house a farmers market where residents can trade their own produce.

© archivisuals.dk

© archivisuals.dk

Courtesy of LOKAL

In addition to functioning agriculturally, the gardens throughout the project will handle rainwater, increase biodiversity, and serve as visual stimulation.

Courtesy of LOKAL

To improve the project’s sustainability factor, materials for the building will be sourced locally, and have been tested for compatibility with the local climate and surroundings.

Courtesy of LOKAL

The utilization of contextual shapes in new combinations gave the building a series of architectural benefits for the residents. As an example, the layout of the facade generates more than 200 balconies, without compromising the daylight intake of the apartments. The geometry furthermore shields the users from wind nuisance, while enhancing the acoustic environment of the balconies. Lastly the balconies are designed to give the highest amount of comfort, in respect to daylight and privacy – described the architects. 

© archivisuals.dk

Courtesy of LOKAL

Construction on the project is set to begin in April of 2017.

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