© Alfonso Arango

• Architect: Arango Arquitecto
• Location: Villa de Leyva, Boyaca, Colombia
• Area: 185 sqm
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Alfonso Arango

• Structural Engineering: Ingeniería y Proyectos de Infraestructura
• Construction Management: Hugo Alejandro Sabogal

© Alfonso Arango

From the architect. The construction of the Earth House is possible thanks to a mother and daughter’s wish to build a rural home where they would settle in at some point in the near future.

The house is located in Villa de Leyva, a historical municipality considered a national monument due to its colonial architecture and the considerable historic burden among the land. There, the new architectural projects are jealously supervised by a strict building policy that seeks to preserve those colonial times, or at least their aesthetics.

Even though architectural homogeneity in the municipality has been achieved through this policy, the logics and construction techniques have been overshadowed by an external purpose; it is normal to find metallic structure constructions that will soon be covered by a cladding layer in order to preserve a hollow image, leaving doubts about what the actual means of the building policy should be.

© Alfonso Arango

In general terms, Villa de Leyva is a place of high contrasts. Dry soil lands nourished by still water bodies. From the moorland of Iguaque to desert lands just a few kilometers away. A place that has suffered several geological transformations through time, going from a primeval ocean during the cretaceous period to mountain chains nowadays; loading the place with magical characteristics and multiple possibilities.

Floor Plan

The Earth House is placed on a very low slopped ground, with mostly dry soils and surrounded by vegetation able to endure the lack of precipitation, although there are several small-sized ponds across the land usually accompanied by tremendous rock formations. 

© Alfonso Arango

In the distance, it is possible to gaze Iguaque’s mountains, which represent a geographical landmark for the Muisca culture.

© Alfonso Arango

As a response to the complex temporal, historical and geographical conditions, a house characterized by contrasts is proposed. The Earth House is orientated towards a horizontal axis that connects the house with the pond, and a vertical one that links the house’s center with the sky. The house comes from a square plan divided in nine smaller ones, with the one in the middle being a patio that connects the areas as in a cloister typology. An architectural strategy that has been used from the archaic Greek oikos, to Chinese, roman, Arab and Spanish houses.

Section

Also, the Earth House aims for a building clarity that responds to different logics: an ochre concrete roof pitched towards the central patio supported by 16 columns with the same materiality that respond to a tectonic nature. And on the other hand, the thickness and massiveness of the hand-made adobe walls, which responds to a stereotomic nature.

© Alfonso Arango

On the inside, it is possible to clearly identify two different zones: an open one that contains the social areas such as kitchen, living room and dinning room, and one more closed that aims to preserve the intimacy of the bedrooms.

Among the main goals intended to be attained by the Earth House, is for it not only to be an all-time type of architecture that meets the needs of the client and the main concept from where it was conceived, but also for it to not be apathetic to the complexity of the surroundings and the historical context. It is an opportunity to think about the domestic and the human pass through the world.

© Alfonso Arango

Architecture that is born from stone and water; under the sky and for the sky; on the earth and of the earth.

© Alfonso Arango

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In this video, French architect and filmmaker Vincent Hecht takes us inside “Rental Space Tower,” Sou Fujimoto’s pavilion at HOUSE VISION Tokyo 2016. Designed in partnership with residential leasing and management company Daito Trust Construction, the structure aims to challenge the conventional typologies of rental housing, maximizing the amount of shared space within the complex.

Check out the video for a look inside the structure, and continue reading for more on the concept behind the design.

Courtesy of HOUSE VISION Tokyo

While traditional rental buildings are configured for exclusive occupancy, Fujimoto’s design optimizes private space while creating a system of shared spaces, including kitchens, baths, theater rooms and gardens, linked by a series of pathways and green terraces.

Unlike house sharing, where all living spaces outside of the bedroom are shared, in “Rental Space Tower,” private and shared areas are clearly divided into individual units, then reorganized to create an internal community. Instead of dull, empty double-loaded corridors, circulation spaces are transformed into “vibrant composite spaces.”

Through these strategies, the designers hope to create a place where “one can have a luxurious kitchen to enjoy cooking skills, a spacious bathtub in which to stretch your body, and an extensive library to read books for diversion.”

See images from all of the pavilions at HOUSE VISION Tokyo 2016 here.

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© Paul Body

• Architects: Soheil Nakhshab
• Location: San Diego, CA, United States
• Area: 3820.0 ft2
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Paul Body

© Paul Body

From the architect. The setting for the Clea House could not be more suited for a Nakhshab Development and Design project as it includes aspects that have been the recipe for award winning and published projects. Set in a serene Mission Hills setting on a sloped site, this modern mid-century inspired single family home complements its surroundings and preserves the existing site terrain. A seamless cantilevering style is presented in a single level layout that allows a cozy minimal but luxurious lifestyle. The large rooftop deck allows residents to enjoy the beautiful San Diego climate and to take in the peaceful canyon setting. An elevator allows easy-access into the living area as the garage is built on the lower level, creating greater accessibility to future tenants.

© Paul Body

Main Level

© Paul Body

Section

© Paul Body

In line with the NDD design philosophy, sustainable measures are used throughout the home to the standard of LEED Gold: Drought tolerant landscaping, nontoxic pest control, water efficient fixtures and fittings, high efficiency LED lighting, energy star appliances, solar PV, and environmentally preferable products. The Clea house is an NDD signature home with the minimal but luxurious, sustainable design that the NDD team has become known for.

© Paul Body

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Winner: Diller, Scofidio + Renfro. Image Courtesy of Guallart Architects

Diller, Scofidio + Renfro has been selected as the winners of the international South Sea Pearl Eco-Island competition. The competition – hosted by Haikou Municipal People’s Government, organized by HNA Infrastructure, coordinated by HNA Design and CBC(China Building Centre) and lead by chief consultant Vicente Guallart, former Chief Architect of Barcelona – saw 10 leading international firms compete for the design of an 250 hectare eco-tourism hub on a newly constructed island in the Haikou Bay of Hainan, which will contain housing, hotels, tourist attractions and a port with capacity for two large cruise ships.

Beating out runner-up proposals from Foster + Partners and Morphosis, Diller Scofidio + Renfro’s winning proposal was selected after several rounds of voting by the jury, which comprised of leading architectural figures including Aaron Betsky (USA) and Benedetta Tagliabue (IT).

Continue reading to see the range of proposals and comments from the jury.

WINNER: Diller Scofidio + Renfro (US)

Winner: Diller, Scofidio + Renfro. Image Courtesy of Guallart Architects

Winner: Diller, Scofidio + Renfro. Image Courtesy of Guallart Architects

The jury found the strength of the project was that it was singular and clear in realizing the Ecoisland as a whole. It would create a beautiful, iconic form rising naturally out the landscape, recalling the volcanic caldera of the area, and shape the island into a continuous structure that would be an extremely efficient compaction of resort, retail, and housing. The project leaves the rest of the island as a place for aquaculture and agriculture, recreation, resort living and cultural facilities. This proposal is one for a truly a human-made island that celebrates all that makes such water-bound places so attractive and beautiful, while contributing to our understanding of deep, intrinsic ecology.

2nd Prize: Foster + Partners (UK)

2nd Prize: Foster + Partners. Image Courtesy of Guallart Architects

2nd Prize: Foster + Partners. Image Courtesy of Guallart Architects

The jury appreciated the central park the architects proposed, believing this would be a major contribution to the public and an attractor to visitors. They also lauded the attention paid to innovative technologies that would allow for intense agriculture and promised a development that could make extremely efficient use of resources. They were enchanted by the combination of learning, recreation, and living the architects showed.

3rd Prize: Morphosis (US)

3rd Prize: Morphosis. Image Courtesy of Guallart Architects

3rd Prize: Morphosis. Image Courtesy of Guallart Architects

The jury liked the shaping of the land to create an undulating park, the placement of the housing along the island’s edges, and the development of cruise terminal and inner harbor area.

Finalist: UNStudio (The Netherlands)

Finalist: UNStudio. Image Courtesy of Guallart Architects

Finalist: UNStudio. Image Courtesy of Guallart Architects

Finalist: IROJE Architects & Planners (South Korea)

Finalist: IROJE Architects & Planners . Image Courtesy of Guallart Architects

Finalist: IROJE Architects & Planners . Image Courtesy of Guallart Architects

Finalist: Office of Architecture in Barcelona Carlos Ferrater Partnership (Spain)

Finalist: Office of Architecture in Barcelona Carlos Ferrater Partnership. Image Courtesy of Guallart Architects

Finalist: Office of Architecture in Barcelona Carlos Ferrater Partnership. Image Courtesy of Guallart Architects

Additional Entry: Boston International Design Group, LLC (China)

Additional Entry: Boston International Design Group. Image Courtesy of Guallart Architects

Additional Entry: Boston International Design Group. Image Courtesy of Guallart Architects

Additional Entry: KuiperCompagnons (The Netherlands)

Additional Entry: KuiperCompagnons. Image Courtesy of Guallart Architects

Additional Entry: KuiperCompagnons. Image Courtesy of Guallart Architects

Additional Entry: CCDI (China)

Additional Entry: CCDI. Image Courtesy of Guallart Architects

Additional Entry: CCDI. Image Courtesy of Guallart Architects

Additional Entry: The Jerde Partnership Inc. (US) 

Additional Entry: The Jerde Partnership. Image Courtesy of Guallart Architects

Additional Entry: The Jerde Partnership. Image Courtesy of Guallart Architects

Construction on the island is expected to begin in 2017, with a tentative completion date of 2027. Additional studies are currently underway to determine the design potential of other islands in the Haikou Bay. Hainan, an island in the South China with a population of 9 million people, was declared as an independent province in 1988 to become a tourism-oriented state and has seen many tourist-driven developments since.

News via Guallart Architects.

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© Didier Boy de la Tour

• Architects: Architecture Patrick Mauger
• Location: 29 Avenue Secrétan, 75019 Paris, France
• Area: 4228.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2015
• Photographs: Didier Boy de la Tour

• Collaborators: Sodéarif, Banimmo, Architecture Patrick Mauger, Bouygues
• General Contractor: Bouygues Construction Ile de France

© Didier Boy de la Tour

Renovation of the Secrétan Covered Market: renaissance of a local lifestyle 

Almost emptied of its shops and walled up, the Secrétan covered market had become an increasingly foreign object in the district. 

Before

© Didier Boy de la Tour

Over a century since its construction, this Baltard style covered market, listed in the French inventory of historic monuments, has now been restored and rehabilitated. It has once again found its former vocation and become the new heart of the 19th arrondissement.  

Diagram

On the outside, the building opens generously onto Rue de Meaux, with the masonry walls replaced by a completely glazed façade. The treatment of the surrounds as a wide pavement favourable for strolling around and the integration of shops allow the retail environment to stretch beyond the building. 

© Didier Boy de la Tour

The interior space has been reorganised and a basement excavated to install several fitness rooms. The central part of the ground floor level is occupied by a food store, thus returning the building to its initial function. On the mezzanine level, a municipal recreational centre has opened its doors to children and families.

Section

The three level roof has been renovated and now integrates all the technical elements (insulation, smoke extraction, etc.). A second independent steel frame has been created to assure the stability of the original cast-iron structure. A number of façade features have been developed (curtain wall with steel frames, fixed glazing, sliding doors, etc.) and particular care taken in restoring the brick and support walls.

© Didier Boy de la Tour

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Our friends at Sketchfab have noticed a recurring trend: among the many 3D scans shared on their platform, a significant number are of historical doorways. Often neglected in today’s designs, doors and doorways are essential physical and mental transition points between the interior and the exterior of a building. While Mies van der Rohe’s strive for visual continuity and the use of glass doors has some critical advantages, it is not applicable – or only poorly applicable – to every design case. Fortunately, history shows that visually and spatially differentiating doors and doorways from the rest of a facade can be a resourceful alternative.

With this set of 3D models selected by Sketchfab, viewers can explore historical doorways online and discover the spatial sequences that they can offer. From framed, indented, raised, lowered, protruding and ornamented doors, these models clearly showcase the various design strategies available for you to keep your doorway design options open.

Option 1: Framed

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One of the most popular options is to frame doors with classical architectural elements. This approach, that became increasingly popular in the Quattrocento, is well exemplified at the Florence Baptistery, where Lorenzo Ghiberti’s well-known eastern doorway – the “Gates of Paradise” – is framed by two composite columns and an entablature. The doors, made of bronze, have been gilded at their center where 10 biblical scenes are represented. The exposed bronze on the doors’ edges acts as a dark-colored frame that is complemented by the use of dark stones for the capitals and entablature.

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A similar technique of framing is used at the Colonial Bank Doorway in Melbourne, where two telamones (male column-figures) are placed on each side of the arched entrance.

Option 2: Indented

Framing can also be made with several pairs of columns to give an entrance depth and perspective. From the outside to the inside, columns shift inwards and form horizontal indents. They are also usually superposed with successive round arches, as seen on this Roman door.

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With this technique, the recessed doorway becomes an increasingly important focal point of a building’s exterior, as illustrated by the archway facade of Fountains Abbey in the UK.

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Option 3: Raised or Lowered

Staircases are used to magnify both a physical and a symbolic transition from a lower level to a higher one, or from higher level to a lower one. As the North door of the Concatedral de Castellón in Spain exemplifies, churches often feature staircases in front of their doors, meaning that during a religious procession people literally and figuratively rise into the sacred place.

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Descending staircases highlight an opposite hierarchy of structure. For instance, at the Nimrod Fortress Doorway on Mount Hermon in Lebanon, soldiers placed at the top of the fortress have more visibility and technical advantages over their rivals. The staircases placed within the passageway illustrate this hierarchical order in architectural terms. The “lowered” effect is further enhanced by the repetition of arches and their difference in heights.

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Option 4: Protruding

Another strategy is to design a doorway protruding from the facade. Protrusions can be a very simple and efficient design strategy – something well-exemplified by the door of this vernacular and uncluttered Newstyle Church in Scotland.

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But protruding doorways can also be more elaborate. Designed for the 1900 Universal Exhibition in Paris, the Petit Palais features a protruding facade and staircase, with arrivals to the palais beginning with a rising procession towards the entrance. The staircase is flanked by sculptures on pedestals, and at its top, pairs of columns and arches receding in space frame the doorway.

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Option 5: Ornamented

Ornaments have regularly been used on Church facades. The tradition stems from the Middle Age when iconographic content was used to illustrate the symbolic values and specific devotion of a church to its often illiterate laymen. At the Saint George Covenant in Prague, the entrance door is framed and indented. The composite columns surrounding the wooden door support an arched pediment depicting St George slaying the dragon, along with an accompanying inscription on the entablature.

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Notre Dame’s “Portail du Jugement Dernier” in Paris similarly conveys a religious message. For this indented doorway, the vaultings were adorned with numerous small-scale figures of angels, prophets, martyrs and virgins among others. The last judgment – a passage from the Gospel of Matthew – is depicted on the arched pediment, showing once again that framed and indented doorways can be intensified with the use of ornament.

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The Shah Mosque in Isfahan also show the use of ornaments in religious settings, this time with calligraphic inscriptions and seven colors of mosaic tiles. The portal visually differentiates itself from the rest of the structure as it is higher and framed by two minarets. On the portal itself, verses of Mohammed and Ali are inscribed, further outlining the large pointed archway. In the recessed transition space before the entrance door, pointed arches and “Muqarnas” typical of Persian architecture’s vaulted ceilings bring a feeling of depth.

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© Jack Hobhouse

• Architects: Studio Octopi
• Location: Putney, London SW15, UK
• Area: 250.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2015
• Photographs: Jack Hobhouse

© Jack Hobhouse

White Lodge is part of a group of houses along the Upper Richmond Road better known as ‘Captains’ or ‘Nelson Houses’. Built in the 1860s, the name is attributed to the former landowner who developed the land, who married Francis Bolton, daughter of Thomas Nelson, 2nd Earl Nelson and also great niece of Admiral Horatio Nelson.

© Jack Hobhouse

Plan 0

© Jack Hobhouse

Studio Octopi were commissioned to extend and refurbish the private house in 2013. The design brief asked for the addition of two bedrooms, playroom and resolution of the disjointed ground floor plan. The completed works have extended the house to 250sqm, a 100sqm basement and 65sqm rear extension.

Section

The kitchen extension replaces a 1990s conservatory and unifies the rear elevation and relationship with the rear garden. Taking reference from the existing late Georgian gault brickwork, the new 21” long, Petersen ‘Kolumba’ handmade bricks were chosen to emphasise the broad width of the property. The extension’s flank walls are set in from the boundary, the eastern elevation retaining access to link front and rear gardens. By spanning the width of the house the new extension links all the ground floor living spaces which were previously fragmented. A sliding picture window is set within the brickwork and provides views to the garden from an intimate snug area. By contrast, the kitchen and dining areas open onto the new elevated garden terrace via a 7.5m fully glazed door. The head of the glazing overlaps the roof construction, increasing the connection with the landscape and referencing mid-century modern houses so admired by the client. The delicacy of the glazing creates a striking counterpoint to the mass of the brickwork.

© Jack Hobhouse

Full height glass screens enclose the internal stair to the basement. This vitrine provides acoustic separation between the kitchen extension and basement playroom. Over the stair is one of the three extension roof lights. Each rooflight is lined out in anodised aluminium panels. The panels reduce the apparent depth of the reveals whilst also providing a shimmering light, capturing the acute early morning sunlight in this north facing extension. The timber stair to the basement has a bead blasted stainless steel handrail and exposes a panel of existing London Stock brick which is up-lit from within the floor.

© Jack Hobhouse

The basement has two bedrooms, shower rooms, playroom and kitchenette. Generous natural lighting was a key component of the design brief. Front and rear lightwells connect to outside spaces. From the playroom, recessed glazed doors and a broad landscaped stair connects with the garden. The recessed sliding/folding doors create shelter under the overhead brickwork but also the illusion of weightlessness to the extension.

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An innovative new housing model dubbed ReGen Villages (short for regenerative) has been developed in response to some of the world’s most pressing environmental, social and economic issues. Helmed by Dutch holding firm ReGen Villages B.V. and Copenhagen-based architecture firm EFFEKT, the new model facilitates off-the-grid, self-sustaining communal neighborhoods that can be deployed across the globe. The first project site will be in Almere, the Netherlands, with work starting this year.  

Courtesy of EFFEKT

The increasingly unavoidable facts about global warming, population growth, global food crisis and scarcity of resources lead the project team to consider how a holistic development could offset the dangerous consequences of human inhabitation. One of the largest drivers of environmental destruction and the loss of biodiversity remains the agricultural industry, and so the project team has used a sustainable agricultural model to drive forth the input based system of design.

Urban dwellers across the world work hard to pay the commodities of their homes, such as mortgage, energy, water and heating, cooling and food. We envision homes that work for you, producing clean energy, water, food off the grid at affordable land prices outside our big cities, says Sinus Lynge, co-founder of EFFEKT.

The concept combines a variety of innovative technologies, such as energy positive homes, renewable energy, energy storage, door-step high-yield organic food production, vertical farming aquaponics/aeroponics, water management and waste-to-resource systems. Lynge explained in a press release: “ReGen Villages is all about applied technology. We are simply applying already existing technologies into an integrated community design, providing clean energy, water, and food right off your doorstep.”

Courtesy of EFFEKT

Whilst half of the global population currently lives in cities, the efficiency of the ReGen systems could reduce a household’s dependency on high-frequency urban living. This would open up a new wave of peri-urbanism and rural development, allowing a more sustainably distributed density of people across the planet’s surface. This distribution would also ease the burden on municipal and national governments who are currently buckling under the pressure of their overpopulated areas. 

Courtesy of EFFEKT

This redistribution of density fosters “a model that adds not only environmental and financial value but also social value by creating the framework for empowering families and developing a true sense of community, reconnecting people with nature and consumption with production.” It brings back a sense of achievement that accompanies the environmental and social benefits, making it a more sustainable long-term model. 

Courtesy of EFFEKT

After enlisting the backing of sovereign wealth funds looking for sustainable investments, ReGen will acquire suitable areas of land and begin contracting local consultants to help tailor the model to the local environment. The housing model is therefore optimized for the conditions at hand, with different technologies being applied accordingly.

Courtesy of EFFEKT

After featuring in the Danish architectural pavilion at this year’s Venice Biennale, the first ReGen Village pilot community is to be developed in Almere in Netherlands, with 100 homes breaking ground in 2016. Other project sites in the near future include Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Germany, with plans to expand onto multiple continents – into countries that feel vastly different consequences from the global crises – in the very near future.

• Architects: EFFEKT
• Location: Almere, The Netherlands
• Collaborators: James Ehrlich, ReGen Villages, Holding B.V.
• Area: 15500.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Courtesy of EFFEKT

News via EFFEKT.

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From the skyline of the Financial District, to the Flatiron Building, Grand Central Station, the Brooklyn Bridge, and St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Kyoung Sop Choi from Jansoli Photography has captured New York City in spectacular 8K high-definition resolution. During a winter trip to the City, Choi filmed streets, buildings, and pedestrians in a series of time-lapses to express the colors of New York. Experience the bustle and vibrancy of the city by watching the video, above.

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© Giovanni Quattrocolo

• Architects: Albert Faus
• Location: Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
• Collaborators: Ferran Grau, Miquel Feliu, Miquel Comadran, Octave Petit
• Client: Nasaras by Home KisitoArea Association
• Area: 235.0 sqm
• Year Of Project: 2015
• Photographs: Giovanni Quattrocolo, Albert Faus

• Structure Calculations: Antoni Espona
• Lighting: Meritxell Vidal
• Management: Llum Álvarez, Patricia Urdampilleta
• Exterior Area: 45h
• Budget: 49.500 €

© Giovanni Quattrocolo

HOME KISITO is a Residential Childcare for babies 0-24 months. Recent years some children have come presenting disabilities result of encephalopathy, which is why it has been impossible to find a host family until now. The orphanage is permanently at the limit of its capacity which forces babies and infants with disabilities to share resting place. As the responsible explained, this practice makes the center incurs malfunction because children need a specialized and differential treatment.

© Giovanni Quattrocolo

In the summer of 2012 four young women held a volunteer at the orphanage. The day with the creatures and their carers and the discussions with the religious head of the center led them to propose the construction of the house for children with specific needs of HOME KISITO.

Plan

Section

The pre-existing building consists of a central structure and two other volumes located in the eastern third of the plot. The new construction takes a substantially centered position on the empty space remaining, parallel to the facade of the main edifice of the orphanage, and along an axis defined by the powerful visual reference that represents the high water tank. The resulting area between the two buildings becomes the entrance square to the center, site for receptions and future playground in the shade of the mango trees.

© Giovanni Quattrocolo

© Giovanni Quattrocolo

The program was defined based on the demands of the Principal Sister and with the estimating donations aspired to achieve. It consists of a field access, a treatment, a block of services and accommodation wing.

© Albert Faus

© Albert Faus

The design and construction of the building attempt to alleviate the constraints of the local climate, such the long periods of high average temperatures with low relative humidity and the rain accompanied by strong easterly winds in summer. To the east of the main façade is a thick stone wall, which acts as a protective screen for the storms and the uppermost of the twin roofs exceeds the height of the building by some 2.5m, creating at the same time a shady perimeter and lowering the nearby outside temperature. Different lines of evergreen trees are planted perpendicular to the direction of the prevailing breezes (east to west), which, in addition to humidifying the air, provide protection from the afternoon sun (flamboyant), reduce the height to a scale more in line with the kiddies (cashew) and provide an abundance of fruit (mango).

Details

The interior of the building is kept cool thanks to the compressed earth walls, vaulted ceilings and flooring. The coloured “insect screens” on the façades allow the vestibule to be configured as a protected, permanently ventilated internal passageway, permitting cross ventilation and emitting warm rising air. This effect is accentuated with the openings at the opposing ends of this corridor (north-south) and at the level of the terraces (east-west), as well as in the vertical plane, with the interruption of BTC in the central vaults being replaced by an insect screen on metal frame. 

The work has been carried out in a “choral” process, seeking the optimal actor at the lowest possible cost in each phase. The excavation and concrete elements were awarded to a company which agreed to reduce profit margins, taking the social nature of the project into account. The walls were built by young trainees and the ceilings by a highly experienced crew. The stonework and metallic structure was entrusted to teams who had already worked on previous projects, such as the group of women who rendered the interior stone facing by hand with clay plastering. And finally, we adapted the local technique to make chairs and loungers weaving with colored plastic mesh to get the “mosquito nets” of facades and corridor, working with an association of blind and partially sighted people. 

© Giovanni Quattrocolo

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