© Lance Gerber

• Architects: o2 Architecture
• Location: Palm Springs, CA, United States
• Architect In Charge: Lance O’Donnell, AIA
• Area: 2818.0 ft2
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Lance Gerber

• Project Manager: Jeff Bicknell, o2 Architecture
• General Contractor: D.W. Johnston Construction, INC.
• Structural Engineer: JN Structural Engineering
• Interior Design: Daniel Torres Design and Studio-Fichandler

© Lance Gerber

From the architect. Located in Palm Springs, Ca, this home seeks to integrate the existing landscape and dramatic mountain scenery with indoor/outdoor living. The existing 1950’s home was tucked away on a quiet cul-de-sac and demanded privacy. The mechanical systems were starting to fail and the finished grade at pool and deck were above the home’s finished floor, rendering the home at risk for potential flooding that could occur under heavy rain. Replacing the unserviceable home became more logical than trying to rehabilitate it. Focus then shifted to working around the existing landscape which included a koi pond that was maintained and fenced off during the construction process. Regrettably, a mature Italian Stone Pine tree had to be cut down as its roots were invasive and too close to the new foundation location; it has graciously been repurposed as table bases used throughout the site (observe main table in Lanai and small tables at pavilion).

© Lance Gerber

Upon passing the split-face, concrete block feature wall and entering the home, a forthright composition of clean and durable materials is revealed as a backdrop to the client’s highly refined tactile finishes. Clerestory windows were used throughout the main living area to capture mountain views, while maintaining the desired privacy from the street. Passive design strategies are apparent in the space with generous south-facing glazing, operable windows throughout that allow for cross ventilation, and deep overhangs providing abundant shade during summer months while allowing desired warmth into the home during cooler winter months.

© Lance Gerber

Site Plan

© Lance Gerber

The client requested a great room program, but with a visual separation from the kitchen. The challenge to integrate an enclosed working kitchen within the large open space, was achieved by a lower ceiling volume wrapping the kitchen and separating it from the dining room while keeping it open to the abundant backyard views. In targeting to have a seamless indoor/outdoor living experience, spaces often revolved around outdoor spaces as is the case with the great room, office, and master bedroom hinging off of the lanai. Keeping true to the site topography, the master bedroom takes advantage of existing site conditions by sitting 18 inches higher than lower finished floor. The master bedroom is accessed through the office “bridge”.

© Lance Gerber

A palette of authentic and durable materials give the home a robustness contrasted by graceful finishes. The preserved landscape provided the finished design with an immediate mature feel not often experienced in a newly constructed home.

© Lance Gerber

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Looking for a challenging new diversion that will keep your architectural mind humming? A new puzzle game from developers Dusty Road, Empty, may just fit the bill.

The object of the game is simple: to remove all the furniture from a series of brightly colored rooms. To do this, players must rotate the room in 3 dimensions, matching objects of the same color together. The game requires spatial reasoning and planning – remove the objects in the wrong order, and there may be no possible path to removing them all.

via Empty

The game is currently available for download from the developer website for Android, Windows, MacOS and Linux at a pay-what-you-want price.

Check it out for yourself, here.

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© Michel Denancé

• Architects: MGAU
• Location: Clichy, France
• Design Team: Michel Guthmann, Stéphanie Appert, Olivier Barthe, Mauro Palamini, Samuel Reist, Oona Savransky, Nicolas Zaegel
• Area: 3400.0 m2
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Michel Denancé , Takuji Shimmura

• Architects Team: Mauro Palamini, Samuel Reist, Oona Savransky, Nicolas Zaegel
• Engineers: Bureau d’Etudes MIZRAHI
• Constructor: Fayolle
• Client: SEMERCLI for Clichy Habitat

© Michel Denancé

From the architect. The city of Clichy la Garenne has committed to an ambitious urban reconstruction project that highlights an exceptional location at the entrance to the city, south of the town. The construction of 47 homes by SEMERCLI falls within this context. The real challenge was to introduce new buildings made of contemporary architecture, more dense. The new building must thus preserve the unique spirit of these neighborhoods, linked to the history of the “faubourgs”. The final goal was to create a ten-story building which had the least possible impact at street level. This apparent contradiction was, for us, the basis of the project: a building in two pieces including a lower  piece, which becomes part of  the continuity of the street, and a second  piece of the building, which is separated and rises up in height, slightly set back.

Diagram

The lower part of the building belongs to the universe of the street, the continuities, and the pedestrians. There is a relationship between it and the existing buildings. The taller building rises and distinguishes itself from the traditional framework of the city. This way of rising into the sky multiplies the façades with views, and preserves the vision of the open sky as much as possible for the pedestrians and inhabitants on the south side of the street. Some apartments are located in two small wings built around the backyard. 

© Michel Denancé

The organization of the volumes allows the quantitative specifications to be met and permits not to sacrify what we consider to be essential to the interior quality of an apartment, that is: apartments have different orientations, kitchens benefit from direct natural light, and living areas are maximized and functional.

© Takuji Shimmura

The site creates an interlacing of gardens, patios and passages on the ground floor. This organization anticipates the richness of volumes found in the building. The hallway is generous and bright: stretching between the street and the interior garden like the storage area for strollers, spacious and functional.

© Takuji Shimmura

Floor Plan

© Michel Denancé

The façades are insulated on the exterior, and are treated either with lime plaster or a metal cladding. The windows and joinery are in aluminum, with an anodized finishing. The color of the plaster is in keeping with the colors of the existing buildings on the street.  The cladding is very light, in order to reflect the sunlight and brighten the center of the block. The volumes are simple in order to develop a certain constructive and technical rationality. The openings are very wide in order to maximize the penetration of natural light and highlight the visual exchange with the exterior.

© Takuji Shimmura

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North Perspective. Image Courtesy of Arkitema Architects

Arkitema Architects has unveiled their winning proposal for a new visitors center at Mols Bjerge National Park in Denmark. To be located adjacent to the historic Kalø Castle Ruins, the design draws inspiration from the surrounding landscape, taking the form of a softly sloping hill.

West Perspective. Image Courtesy of Arkitema Architects

“We did not design a building in the usual sense. We designed an integrated part of the landscape,” said Poul Schülein, partner at Arkitema Architects. “We have mirrored the hilly surroundings and we are thrilled to continue working with this exciting project.”

Interior Perspective. Image Courtesy of Arkitema Architects

The new center has been designed to accommodate the approximately 150,000 tourists that visit the Kalø Castle Ruins each year in a welcoming structure constructed of wood and brick that integrates into the National Park scenery. Within the hill-shaped form, two levels will provide an exhibition area, a gathering space for tourists, families and class trips, and a restaurant offering panoramic views of the Kalø Castle Ruins.

North Elevation. Image Courtesy of Arkitema Architects

East Elevation. Image Courtesy of Arkitema Architects

The two levels will be connected by a large, accessible staircase that will serve as an additional meeting point. The stair will continue out of the building to provide outdoor seating options.

Interior Perspective. Image Courtesy of Arkitema Architects

The new building will be located just 500 meters from another Arkitema project, the House of Hunting, and represents the second recent visitor’s center commission for the firm, following being awarded the design of the Hammershus Visitors Center in 2013.

Section. Image Courtesy of Arkitema Architects

The building is expected to open to the public in 2019.

News via Arkitema Architects.

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© Gloria Medina

• Architects: FGO/Arquitectura
• Location: Merida, Yucatan, Mexico
• Architects In Charge: Luis Fernando Garcia, D.I Andrea Marín
• Area: 500.0 m2
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Gloria Medina

© Gloria Medina

Located in the Golf Club La Ceiba in the Yucatan peninsula. The project is erected within a lot with abundant vegetation, which is why the architecture was adapted to the terrain; most of the trees were respected and were relocated to provide shadow to open spaces. As well vegetation was taken advantage to generate cool breezes that allow a natural way to ventilate each space.

© Gloria Medina

The project is developed starting from the needs of an adult couple, which is why it is only one level, with access and amenities appropriate for every need along with easy access and circulation between all areas. The project is divided into three stages (garage, service area and residential area), all of which are connected by a network of ramps and steps through gardens and moving walls.

Floor Plan

With views to the outside from any part of the house, each space is given its own identity, with unique perspectives and without being exposed to the street or the golf course. This gives the residents total privacy, utilizing moving walls and a landscape design inspired by the regional forest.

© Gloria Medina

The project is developed with three longitudinal axises as starting points, by hiding the windows within walls a more open floor plan is generated, unifying the Living Room/Dining Room/Terrace/Kitchen.

© Gloria Medina

Such axises communicate with the living quarters, located to one side of the pool, passing through the fourth area, guest quarters/Den, serving as a transition, by utilizing the paths in the landscape design into the private living quarters, all of which have views of a private garden, functioning as a meditation space.

© Gloria Medina

With a low maintenance selection of materials and vegetation palette (concrete, steel and wood), clean and inviting spaces are created. Hand in hand with the landscape design, a state of tranquility and peace is created in the spaces, for the greater welfare of the users.

© Gloria Medina

Playing with simple geometry, completely open to the exterior, the natural environment is incorporated into each space by means of translucent elements, which are capable of providing ample and natural light to the spaces, inviting us once again to coexist with nature.

© Gloria Medina

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When it comes to viral architecture, readers love a sense of the theatrical. This trend has led to a new internet obsession: ‘evil’ buildings that look like they could be the home of a supervillain or nefarious corporation.

Compiled on sites such as BoredPanda and Reddit, lists of ‘Evil Buildings’ tend to feature structures that feel sterile to non-architects, photographed in dramatic lighting or surrounded in fog. Projects by Zaha Hadid Architects, Frank Gehry and Ole Scheeren are among those represented. But what exactly makes these buildings feel evil?

This phenomenon represents an age-old quandary in architecture: how to make laypersons feel more comfortable with architectural styles they may be uncomfortable with. This issue is most commonly seen in the differences in public and architect opinions on Brutalist buildings, which even publicly elected officials have decried as “”aesthetically worthless” and “ugly.”

Check out BoredPanda’s list of ‘Evil Buildings’ here.

Is it possible for a building to be ‘evil’, or is it simply a product of photography? How should architects react to the way their buildings are perceived?

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© Rafael Gamo

• Architects: ROSETTI
• Location: Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens, NY 11375, United States
• Area: 125000.0 ft2
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Rafael Gamo

© Rafael Gamo

From the architect. Completed this fall, the 125,000 square foot, 8,125-seat Grandstand Stadium is an innovative, lightweight structure that anchors the southwest corner of the United States Tennis Association’s (USTA) National Tennis Center in New York City. Since 2010, ROSSETTI and the USTA have collaborated on redesigning the 46-acre campus for the future of tennis, and expect to complete the final phase for the 2018 US Open. 

Diagram

Relocated from the crowded northeast corner of the campus, the new Grandstand Stadium nestles into the natural setting of Flushing Meadows Corona Park; the trees along the campus edge inspire its unique exterior skin pattern that metaphorically evokes the illusion of peering through the foliage of leaves.

© Rafael Gamo

Teflon-coated fiberglass membrane, or polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE)”) fabric, the hexadecagon (16-sided) facade is composed of 486 panels, over 26,000 square feet, that were designed using Computational Solver software. The complex geometry of the panels is synthesized while taking advantage of the material play on opacity and translucency, offering glimpses into and out of the stadium.

© Rafael Gamo

Section Detail

© Rafael Gamo

From the ground, fans are drawn into the Grandstand Stadium from multiple staircases alongside the structure. Along the upper walkway, visitors enjoy expansive views of the campus and park, including the new Allée, which connects to the historic World’s Fair Unisphere. Its strategic design allows people to move freely along the perimeter of the stadium while staying underneath the translucent canopy overhead.

Walkway Level Plan

The fan experience includes a lower bowl recessed into the earth, to maintain scalability, which creates the ultimate tennis experience that highlights the player-fan relationship. New concessions, a picnic area and plazas surround the Grandstand Stadium and provide fans with a comfortable, laid-back atmosphere as an alternative to the hustle and bustle of the rest of the campus.

© Rafael Gamo

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© Yuya Hoshino

• Architects: B.L.U.E. Architecture Studio
• Location: Guo Zi Jian Jie, Dongcheng Qu, Beijing Shi, China, 100007
• Architects In Charge: Shuhei Aoyama, Yoko Fujii, Jingjing Tang, Lingzi Liu
• Area: 120.0 m2
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Yuya Hoshino

© Yuya Hoshino

From the architect. This project is a store renovation for the furniture brand “Lost and Found” located in Guozijian  Street, a historic district in Beijing. As nowadays, more and more people tends to live alone, the concept of a traditional family gradually disintegrated, and the city’s public space is  becoming another “home” for people. Under such contexts, the renovation intends to  bring the sense of “home” into the store, and to introduce a new vision for the future commercial space that connects people with urban public space.

© Yuya Hoshino

By adding an alc, the traditional single-storey siheyuan building is transformed to a loK while most of the original wooden structure were retained. The indoor garden in the centre of the building divides the whole space into four independent areas living room, dining room, bedroom and a study. Since all the rooms open up to indoor courtyard, each space benefits from the sunlight that coming through the large skylight above and gets a view of the indoor garden.

© Yuya Hoshino

Plan 1

© Yuya Hoshino

Natural materials are used in all areas such as terrazzo floor, diatom mud wall paint, and wooden furniture. The rough texture and the plain look bring a warm and friendly feeling to people, waking up people’s initial memories and senses of home and family.

© Yuya Hoshino

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Courtesy of ArchSD

• Architects: ArchSD
• Location: Muk Hung St, Kai Tak, Hong Kong
• Architects In Charge: Alice Yeung, Thomas Wan, Tuesday Li
• Area: 11150.0 m2
• Project Year: 2015
• Photographs: Courtesy of ArchSD

Courtesy of ArchSD

From the architect. A school is a community: a micro-society, a mini city within a city. It is an oasis yet has a direct relationship with the city at large. Our idea is simple; the spatial concept for the Kai Tak Primary School is to bring the students and teachers together with the playground and other spaces and activities, to encourage interactions. Breaking away from the typical densely built 8-storey school building in Hong Kong with the ball court on the ground, this school adopts a low-rise 4-storey design, with the basketball court raised on the first floor, sited in the middle of the school campus, creating a focus, pulling together spaces and activities.

Courtesy of ArchSD

Axonometric

Courtesy of ArchSD

From the school entrance plaza, students follow a staircase route to encounter the covered playground, central ball court and library roof garden, creating a sense of discovery of spaces, to stimulate the passion for self-discovery. This staircase path connects the three major open spaces of the school, setting the orientation of the campus. 

Courtesy of ArchSD

The old tradition of Hong Kong’s walled village is re-interpreted in the design of the school.  In similar way as a village’s ancestral hall, houses, square and lanes would be strategically laid out within the village wall.  Within the wall of the School campus, the assembly hall which reads as the town hall of the school complex, the library and the classrooms are arranged in different blocks around the central ball court, with link bridges, courtyards, street and colonnades, shaping the school as a micro polis, conceived as a whole by using major urban design elements of a city. Courtyards, streetscapes and overlooking terraces bring closer the different spaces and activities, encouraging interactions. 

Courtesy of ArchSD

Gardens and roof gardens are arranged on different levels throughout the campus to provide green scenery for the interiors and attract communications between the indoor and the open spaces. Gardens and vertical greening together with fair-faced concrete, metal and timber screens compose a variety of spatial experiences to be discovered, to stimulate learning. The selection of materials and generous use of greening also create an oasis in the city.

Courtesy of ArchSD

Product Description. Metal screen of weaved mild steel plates was used as window screen of the classroom block close to the main entrance of the school.  Mild steel, along with other natural materials such as fair-faced concrete, timber and vertical greening, creates a variety of spatial experiences to be discovered.  The language of the weaved screen was inspired by the Chinese traditional screen, a common element for windows and partitions in traditional houses of walled-villages in Hong Kong.  By incorporating screens that mediate the outdoor and indoor environments, the design re-interprets the tradition in a contemporary way.

Courtesy of ArchSD

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© Katherine Lu

• Architects: Bijl Architecture
• Location: Mosman NSW 2088, Australia
• Architect In Charge: Melonie Bayl-Smith
• Interior Designer: Vanessa Tang-Lee
• Area: 285.0 m2
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Katherine Lu

• Builder: Langridge Constructions
• Structural Engineer : Partridge
• Stormwater Engineer: Partridge
• Arboriculturalist : Tree Talk
• Pool Builder: Premier Pools

© Katherine Lu

Set on the edge of a national park, the Burrawong House has undergone a transformation that establishes compelling links between the dwelling and its bushland surrounds, providing opportunities for serenity and retreat. Bijl Architecture was engaged by the owners from the very conception of the project, assisting with identifying an ideal site that captured both tranquillity and suburban amenity.  

© Katherine Lu

Through careful manipulation, alteration and augmentation of the original 1970s brick dwelling, the scheme interacts with its bush surroundings in an interplay of light and shadow. The simple form of the original 1970s dwelling required specific formal responses, with the new additions designed to nestle under and into the existing building form. 

© Katherine Lu

Key design elements such as large picture windows, clerestories, raking ceilings and internal/external spatial flows have been leveraged so as to compete with the shading of the extensive foliage and deal with the difficult bush fire zoning. Utilising this design approach, an equilibrium of spaces come together, making the house work vertically as well as horizontally. 

Floor Plan

A series of careful insertions – under the house to create a music studio, at the side of the house to create a magnificent lap pool that juts into the bush – translates into a multiplicity of soft or transitional spaces for escape and relaxation. The result is a house that bows to the bush, that makes the most of its original, modest form by offering a flexible family home focused on quiet beauty.

© Katherine Lu

Product Description. As the property is in the highest level bushfire planning zone, any new external materials needed to consider not only the aesthetic and form of the original 1970s brick dwelling, but also the ability to withstand stressful bushfire conditions. We also considered how any additions to the existing dwelling would best blend with the highly textured and coloured brickwork as well as the dense bushland surrounds. Thinking about these various parameters, we decided to preserve the original long line of the existing dwelling by placing a ‘pop-out’ addition on the street façade, accommodating a modest extension to the ground floor plane. This addition is clad in Terracade panels, made by Austral Bricks – the terracotta panels comply with the bushfire requirements and allow an efficient wall thickness to be achieved. The panels allow the new addition to make a contemporary reference to the brick ‘units’ of the existing dwelling, while contributing to a slick rectilinear aesthetic. Overall, the box form and its clean, grid-like surface complements the existing building fabric whilst making its own statement as the new street-facing element.

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