• Architects: SILO AR + D
• Location: Fayetteville, AR, United States
• Design Team: Marc Manack and Frank Jacobus, Principals; Joseph Weishaar, Project Designer; Esteban Ayala; Thomas Geeslin; Ethan Werkmeister
• Area: 1920.0 ft2
• Project Year: 2014

• Structural Engineer: Don Johnston PE
• Building Area: 1920 gsf / 1584 nsf
• Cost Per Square Foot: $80 gsf / $96 nsf
• Construction Cost: $154,000

Plan

An architect led design-build project, MOOD RING HOUSE is a low-cost ($80/sf) single family live-work house.

Located in an eclectic neighborhood in walking distance from the city center of Fayetteville, Arkansas, the design is born out of a mix of site limitations and opportunities, economic constraints, and programmatic requirements. With a skewed alignment to the lot lines, the siting preserves two established monumental Catalpa trees, orienting the house to take advantage of north light from a clerestory, and south and west facing views of the immediate forest and the distant mountains, all while fronting the main intersection near the property. Work functions are consolidated at grade, with a majority of living spaces above. The small base minimizes the built footprint to preserve existing trees and reduce foundation costs, which are at a premium in the unstable Arkansas soil. The cantilevers, in concert with the dramatically sloping site, give unique views of the natural landscape to each living space, creating a private enclave amidst the tree canopy. Beneath overhangs are a carport on the west-facing front and an outdoor room on the east-facing rear.  The shed roof, when coupled with an inverted truss profile, floods the interior volume with natural light.

Interiors are articulated and finished to enhance the expansive and overlapping relationship between spaces. A limited palette of whites and light woods are carried throughout the interior. Details throughout leave corners open to imply interlocking spatial relationships.

To keep costs down, the house is constructed primarily of generic, off-the-shelf materials, detailed to mask their humble character. The exterior envelope is primarily prefinished Hardi Panel and twin-wall polycarbonate. Panels were used in nominal dimensions to minimize labor costs during installation. Reglets between panels are inexpensive roof trim, painted to match the siding finish. Roofing is metal galvalume. The upper level windows are sliding patio doors and sidelights with interior steel and chain link railings. Cantilevers are accomplished with continual LVLs and engineered joists spanning between. The symmetrical balance of the cantilevers and the relatively limited amount of openings effectively turn the upper level into a box beam.   

Plan

The Mood Ring House explores how architecture can have different day and night presences with distinct experiential and spatial qualities. During the day, because of the site orientation and subtle material palette, the architecture has a demure character despite its distinct massing.  At night, illuminated soffits construct volumes out of projecting colored light from concealed energy efficient LED fixtures. Colors are derived from the temperament of the house and directly by the owners’ desire.

Following the completion of the Mood Ring House, nearby home owners have begun to equip their porch lamps on with multi-colored LED bulbs, transforming the neighborhood into a Rainbow Light District. 

http://ift.tt/1XHgQlA

© Petra Mara, Nefeli Papanagiotou

The Greek Pavilion at the 2016 Venice Biennale will be hosting an exhibition titled #ThisIsACo-op, which underscores the role of collaboration in architecture. Through a series of displayed research and discussions, the exhibition aims to understand how architects may need to unite on different “fronts” of world crises, including the refugee crisis, the housing crisis, and the crisis of the architectural profession, among others.

© George Papadimas, Christine Tzevelekou

This pavilion will host a series of “workshops and site-specific events” that will unite visitors into one cooperative network. It will become a place for meeting, discussion, and participation. The site will “provide a space for mobilizing collective architectural bodies, locally and internationally, as well as a place for developing claims and coordinating actions.”

Courtesy of The Greek Pavilion

Events hosted at the Greek Pavilion are organized into a tripartite structure: Syneleusis (assembly), Synergeia, and Symbiosis. Outside of the pavilion, the curatorial team, which is made up of members of the Association of Greek Architects, will host a series of events in both Venice and Greece, throughout the duration of the Biennale, which will be shown on screens in the pavilion.

© RIZA3architects

The site also contains a reading room, and areas where documentaries about the multi-faceted crises architecture is currently facing can be seen. Through research, meetings, and discussions, #ThisIsACo-op aims to unite architects and find solutions through collaboration.

Learn more, here.

http://ift.tt/1TtJL9T

© Twist Tours

• Architects: Matt Fajkus Architecture
• Location: United States, Austin, TX, USA
• Architect In Charge: Matt Fajkus Architecture
• Design Team: Matt Fajkus, AIA; Sarah Johnson; David Birt
• Area: 304.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2015
• Photographs: Twist Tours

• Project Manager: Sarah Johnson
• Graphic Support: Brandon Hubbard; Jose Gallegos
• General Contractor: Brodie Builders
• Structural Engineer: Smith Structural Engineers
• Interior Designer: Joel Mozersky Design
• Landscape Designer: Open Envelope Studio

Skecth

From the architect. Austin’s Bouldin Creek neighborhood provides a unique and ever-changing context to the Main Stay House. The challenges were both cultural and site-specific. The Main Stay House exists as a simple and straightforward proposal – an architectural experiment on domesticity – enabling lifestyle flexibility through clean forms, relatable materiality, and an urban infill living space that blurs the lines between inside and outside.

© Twist Tours

Paring down the components of a house to a minimal amount of planes and openings, the scheme is anchored by an obscured entry sequence and a staircase volume, both clad in iron spot masonry. These plans act as thresholds between the respective realms of public, common and private, by minimal means. The service core is consolidated along the east facade, allowing the structure to fully open up the living zone to the yard. The masonry also contrasts an otherwise muted interior atmosphere of smooth, desaturated surfaces.

© Twist Tours

Section

The entry sequence is a twist upon the conventional domestic front door, front facade, and fence. The front masonry wall replaces the typical residential fence and frames an indirect access to the front door, functioning as a privacy barrier while revealing slices of the interior to the public street.

The staircase bifurcates the layout to provide a clear division between the common and private zones of the house, while clearly reading as a mass from all outside view. Brick and glass become portals between common and private zones.

© Twist Tours

The house is built to endure the hot climate of central Texas, from orientation to framing to airtightness to thermal-bridge free connections. Simple and yet clever design moves enable a free-flowing plan and section which allow an abundance of natural light without overheating during the hot summer days. The Pool Court capitalizes on the dappled light from the tree, roof overhang, natural breeze and water. Various openings are carefully considered in each interior space to withstand the harsh west sun, providing a balance of daylight and shading while reducing reliance to artificial lighting. Operable windows with double glazing and low E coatings to provide cross ventilation. A more robust framing method (2×6) is used with advanced insulation. The inside of the house is cool enough to live without a functioning a/c even in the hottest months. All wood products use formaldehyde free binders, and only low VOC paint was specified.

Plans

Although the newly constructed home is sleek and distinguished in its looks, the construction cost is at only 250 dollars per square foot. The house isn’t about over-the-top opulence, but style, creativity, and substance. Materials, finishes and surfaces are carefully considered, cleverly composed and crisply detailed. While pushing the limits of architecture in the Bouldin Creek neighborhood and Austin to a larger scale, the Main Stay House has stayed true to the rather modest and laid-back tradition, offering a distinctly Austin experience, to both residents and visitors alike. 

© Twist Tours

Matt Fajkus Architecture Description:

Matt Fajkus Architecture (MF Architecture) is an award-winning and licensed architecture office that welcomes residential and commercial projects of various scales and budgets. The practice offers competitive design fees without compromising design quality and the body of work seeks simple and holistic solutions to complex problems by blending expertise and experimentation.

© Twist Tours

Full-service Practice + Academic Think Tank. MF Architecture is led by Matt Fajkus, AIA, who is also a Tenure-Track Professor at the University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture. As a young and energetic collaborative, the firm is simultaneously an academic think tank, directly connected to theoretical and technological research at UT, while practicing as an office deeply focused on realizing exceptional buildings.

Nature, People and Buildings Cohabitation. The design work of MF Architecture is based on the belief that each project is unique, as it should be driven by the client, the site and its surroundings, satisfying the rights of all inhabitants while fulfilling functional requirements with individuality, rather than being a singular, preconceived aesthetic.

Sketch

Adaptable Spaces with Sustainable Strategies. The firm possesses advanced knowledge in sustainable design principles, and the office is driven by the optimism that we live in an ideal time to affect positive change locally and globally, all accomplished through intelligent design. Adaptable spaces accommodating the present and the future are achieved by flexible plan layouts, indoor and outdoor flows, and energy-efficient methods including passive daylighting, natural ventilation, and intelligent material choices, compositions and detailing.

© Twist Tours

© Twist Tours

Unexpected Elements from Everyday Objects. The team has a passion rooted in expanding the conventional reach and impact of architecture among the general public and within popular culture. Everyday objects are often taken as inspiration for their simplicity but unlimited potentials and relevance to create extraordinary and functional architectural elements.

Open and Collaborative Design Process. MF Architecture promotes a transparent design process including a direct collaboration with client and builder. Likewise, the office fosters honesty and functionality in design itself, with a belief in balancing restraint and expression in broad design moves as well as details. The team enthusiastically takes on the unique challenges presented by each project to inspire highly creative, cost-effective solutions meant to enhance building performance and daily life as a whole.

South/West Elevation

http://ift.tt/1s0wTz3

© Damien de Medeiros

• Architects: React Architects
• Location: Kamari 844 00, Greece
• Architect In Charge: Natasha Deliyianni , Yiorgos Spiridonos
• Area: 160.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2015
• Photographs: Damien de Medeiros

• Mechanical Engineer: Nikos Chrystofyllakis
• Civil Engineer: Christos Smyrnis
• 3 D Graphics: Dafni Retzipi, Architecture Student
• Lot Area: 4.000,00 m2

© Damien de Medeiros

From the architect. The house is located in the settlement of Kamari on the island of Paros. It has west orientation on the long side, facing the sea and Antiparos. The housing volumes are lined up linearly to the view, creating a courtyard attached to the slope on the south side.

Floor Plan

Courtyards are formed adjacent to the living room, in dependence on the natural slope. The roofed pergola courtyard is protected from the northern winds in direct relation to the living room and the pool.

© Damien de Medeiros

A wide staircase connects the outdoor sitting with the water element. On the rooftop, a lounge area is formed with panoramic views of the mountains and the sea extending the outdoor space on the roof of the house. The staircase leading to it, constitutes an integral design element.

Axonometric

The large volume of a single building, breaks down into smaller ones, directly adapted to the terrain. In this way the adjustment of the building in the landscape is smooth and the volume of the housing is as small as possible.

The house is positioned along an existing plateau. Great emphasis is given to the “fifth” aspect, ie roofs, as the housing is adapted to the natural environment.

© Damien de Medeiros

The design of the openings is associated with the architectural style of the building. The element of repetition and standardization of openings dominates the design leaving the white volumes almost intact.

On the interior, jointly with their owners, a pair of professionals in the cinema field, construction materials dominate the design, such as exposed concrete ceilings and industrial flooring as well as wood construction in white color, as a continuation of the walls.

Section

Elevation

The furnishings and décor were selected so to leave the shell intact, highlighting the selected furniture pieces. Vintage objects but also designer pieces from Greece and abroad were chosen, in order to create an aesthetically bridging between architecture and design.

© Damien de Medeiros

The transformation of the morphological elements of the Cycladic architecture using a modern architectural language were, together with the integration into the natural landscape, the guiding design principles of this project

3D Model

http://ift.tt/1TtdgbO

© Peter Clarke

• Architects: Kavellaris Urban Design
• Location: Australia
• Design: Billy Kavellaris & Rodrigo Mateluna Sandoval
• Project Architect : Rodrigo Mateluna Sandoval
• Area: 7400.0 sqm
• Photographs: Peter Clarke

• Builder: Harris HMC

© Peter Clarke

From the architect. Spectrum Apartments is situated on a site with three frontages. It was critical that the architecture address and activate all three frontages but also be of a single architectural language.

© Peter Clarke

© Peter Clarke

The project is expressed as strips of building mass to exemplify the diverse cultural context of Box Hill. The “strips” geometrically alternate over the floor plates to create highly articulated façades. The terminations of the “Strips” are expressed with brightly coloured fascia around the balconies, adding a vibrant presence to the public realm.

Diagram

To increase the public amenity of the occupants of the apartment, the internal circulation areas are open to the sky, acting as a “lung” to the development. This “lung” would provide for additional daylighting and natural ventilation while allowing for vegetation to populate the open atrium.

© Peter Clarke

Plan

http://ift.tt/27JJoiL

© Hyung-suk Kang

• Architects: Design Studio INTU:NE
• Location: Bongcheon-dong, Gwanak-gu, Seoul, South Korea
• Design Team: Hyung-suk Kang, Seoung-kyung Shin, Soeun Sung
• Area: 200.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Hyung-suk Kang

• Collaborator: Jaewoo-Lee, Creative director of MR.Homes
• Construction: Design Run

© Hyung-suk Kang

From the architect. Project is to design a space for MR. Homes that is a real estate agency providing all-inclusive real estate services – searching on mobile application, real estate transaction, and comprehensive facility managements. The space needs to act as a hub for tenants, landlords and real estate specialists as well as other potential customers for their derivative services as MR. Homes’ business going on. 

© Hyung-suk Kang

All-inclusive Work Module

They need seven booths where consultants work, meet customers, and make contracts. Suggestion was to deploy all-inclusive furniture every two meters. The furniture includes customer seating for two, a printer, and cabinet. Consultants sit perpendicular to their customers so as to give help easily. All-inclusive furniture module reflects MR. Homes’ all-inclusive business concept.

Model

© Hyung-suk Kang

Walk Around Lounge

In the middle, a lounge is arranged in the form of exemplary home – 24 square meter studio which is their major type of property dealt with. This is made of painted lines on the floor and pieces of furniture on them. This is a half virtual space where customers walk around and get a sense of scale. It mediates experiences between the virtual world (on the App.) and the real world (property viewing). By the lounge, a communal table and Untitled Display Wall help define space identity. Communal table is basically for the long time waiting customers, but is also for the meeting place for the local. Untitled Display Wall is made up of movable shelves on the display rack. Here customers can collect curated information on living – local daily life, real estate, architecture and interiors. Tools rental corner is a part of the wall, where people can rent tools often necessary when moving in, such as monkey spanner and hammer drill. As such, Untitled Display Wall can be composed in any ways, as their business extends.

Model

Elevation

Materials

The biggest challenge during the project was the limited construction cost. Therefore, usable finish materials are narrowed down to cheapest ones. It is inevitable to rethink the conception of finishing – finishing with non-finish materials, using raw industrial materials such as plywood and Galvalume with minimum surface treatment. It is thought raw materials’ rough feeling could be mitigated with combination of wood and steel. Clear epoxy coated concrete floor is presented with vivid line drawing. Exposed ceiling is lit up by up-lighting solution. By these efforts, ‘raw’ is can be evaluated as pure, rather than rough.

© Hyung-suk Kang

Plan 1

http://ift.tt/1YJWre5

© Chaovarith Poonphol

• Architects: Anonym
• Location: Bangkok, Thailand
• Architect Team : Phongphat Ueasangkhomset, Parnduangjai Roojnawate
• Area: 62.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Chaovarith Poonphol

© Chaovarith Poonphol

From the architect. Thai TV production office ‘Green 26′ received a full renovation by architect Anonym. Located in a town-home (Bangkok) Anonym created contrasting green and white ceiling, floor and walls feature throughout the 62 square meter office for the client. Anonym wanted to link both the past and future uses of the building by white epoxy flooring runs the length of the space.

Plan

A covered walkway was placed in the structure’s unused backyard space and provides extra brightness to the rooms by reflecting light. and a new inner courtyard was created. The working space is simple and spacious, furnished by a long desk in dark green and contrasting white chairs. Framing the desk is a green wall and sloping ceiling, equipped with simple light fittings.

© Chaovarith Poonphol

Green is heavily used in the interior because it’s the client’s favorite color, name of the company, but also to represent the natural elements brought into the space by Anonym.

© Chaovarith Poonphol

Detail

http://ift.tt/1TLGG26

Courtesy of penda

Penda has designed a landscape for Hyderbad, India, inspired by the country’s stepwells and water mazes. When completed, the 8,000 square meter (85,000 square foot) Magic Breeze Landscape will serve 145 apartments in a development by Pooja Crafted Homes. Some of the landscape’s signature features will be its bamboo coves, flower gardens, water displays, and built-in benches. The steps found throughout the landscape will double as planters for flowers, herbs, and grasses, that will serve as a communal garden for residents.

Courtesy of penda

The landscape’s maze-like characteristics allow for different experiences of the environment depending on the speed and purpose of the users: a wide, straight road is for runners, fast walkers, and emergency vehicles, a narrower walking path accommodates residents who want to quickly arrive at their apartments, and a third path takes more itinerant visitors onto the steps and through gardens in a more leisurely and transportive manner. The parks stepped and rectilinear appearance may for some recall the mid-century modern landscapes of Lawrence Halprin, or Dan Kiley’s roof gardens for the Oakland Museum; building by Kevin Roche and John Dinkeloo.

Courtesy of penda

Magic Breeze Landscape is scheduled to begin construction this summer.

Courtesy of penda

• Architects: penda
• Location: Hyderabad, Telangana, India
• Project Team: Chris Precht, Sun Dayong, Zi Zhi, Xue Bai, Anna Andronova
• Area: 0.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Courtesy of penda

http://ift.tt/1qzwi63

• Architects: Leeser Architecture
• Location: United States, Brooklyn, NY, USA
• Architect In Charge: Leeser Architecture
• Area: 47000.0 ft2
• Project Year: 2016

• Lead Designers: Thomas Leeser, Simon Arnold

Cellar Floor Plan North

From the architect. LEESER Architecture was enlisted to transform an underutilized industrial building into a three level collaborative work share facility for COWORKRS. The design includes a reception area, shared and private offices, communal work spaces, kitchen and dining areas, conference rooms, lounge/breakout spaces and a rooftop terrace.

DESIGN COMMENTS

LEESER Architecture used a series of angular, brightly-colored stairs to create a unifying element throughout three levels of flexible work spaces. The bold metal feature folds into varying functional purposes creating communal spaces within its dynamic form.

The origami-like folds of the stairs are carried into the main kitchen area and bands of lighting are recessed into the floors as well as the cabinetry in common areas.

The design maintains the building’s original ‘rawness’ with exposed joists, original brickwork and even graffiti. The 47,000 s.f. space is unified by central design elements with distinct focal points throughout.

On the upper level, a glass conference room anchors a light-filled wing lined

with enclosed offices surrounding a small kitchen and breakout area. At the ground floor, the main stair unfolds into a communal work table. On the bottom floor, a large skylight brings natural light and a sense of openness to the basement level office and lounge spaces.

http://ift.tt/1WH01Zh

Courtesy of Studio Gang

Studio Gang has released images of the firm’s Strategic Master Plan for the National Aquarium in Baltimore. The driving force of this initiative is to identify opportunities for sustained growth, improvements to the visitor experience, and to reinforce the organization’s commitment to conservation and education at all scales.

Conceptual rendering. The proposed Pier 4 addition unites existing and new building volumes. Visitors arriving from Pier 3 walk toward a covered entrance with views of a theater, restaurant, and the Pier 4 exhibit.. Image Courtesy of Studio Gang

The 33,500 square meter (360,000 square foot) plan calls for a new harmony to the aquarium’s facilities, which are currently separated by a former ship slip in the city’s harbor, by establishing a 3,500 square meter (37,000 square foot) urban wetland. In the words of the Studio, “By providing outdoor educational and social spaces for visitors and the public, the plan simultaneously improves the local ecology, creates a campus identity, strengthens connectivity, and extends the Aquarium’s growing conservation work in the region.”

Courtesy of Studio Gang

Pier 4 becomes the domain of the region's spectacular natural asset, the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.. Image Courtesy of Studio Gang

Regarding the interior, Studio Gang wants to overhaul the circulation sequence in order to enhance the flow of visitors through attractions and amenities. Education spaces would be developed in facilities on both sides of the ship slip. Pier 3 would offer a tours of global “Hope Spots” (treasured ecosystems worth protecting), while Pier 4 would examine the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, taking visitors on a journey through various ecological zones of the estuary, the largest and one of the most fragile in the United States. In addition, educational labs and classrooms would be integrated within exhibitions, and there would be greater emphasis on the Aquarium’s conservation work.

Conceptual rendering. A hub-like space within the Chesapeake exhibit on Pier 4 provides a lounge space in which to relax and engage with the exhibit's local ecology. Exhibit developed in collaboration with Thinc Design.. Image Courtesy of Studio Gang

“By strengthening connections between urban and aquatic life, [our] strategic master plan supports the Aquarium’s future success and goals to ‘fundamentally change the way people view and care for the ocean,’” says the Studio. The goal being to position the National Aquarium as a leader in debates on water quality, conservation, healthy harbors, and the sustainability and practices of aquariums worldwide.  

Conceptual rendering of proposed architectural interventions with the urban wetland at the center. The design of the urban wetland is based on the geometry of Chesapeake Bay tidal meanders.. Image Courtesy of Studio Gang

• Architects: Studio Gang Architects
• Location: 501 E Pratt St, Baltimore, MD 21202, United States
• Area: 0.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2015
• Photographs: Courtesy of Studio Gang

http://ift.tt/1W6KMbh