© Federico Cairoli

• Architects: Estudio Galera
• Location: Pinamar, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina
• Project Team: Ariel Galera, Diego Ballario, Cesar Amarante, Francisco Villamil
• Area: 195.08 sqm
• Photographs: Federico Cairoli

• Collaborators: Horacio Riga, Verónica Coleman
• Agrimensura: Claudio D´eramo
• Structural Calculation: Ing. Javier Mendia
• Render: Arq. Dwight Stone Shunk
• Animation: Ballax
• Constructor: Panadero Constructora//Leandro Condori Construcciones
• Landscaping: Lorena Allemani
• Translation And Text Editing: Soledad Pereyra

© Federico Cairoli

From the architects. Intended for permanent residence, this single-family home was set in a flat corner lot of a little more than 900m2 in a new parceling in the North of Pinamar (seaside town in the Coast of Argentina) where the building density does not exceed two houses per block.

© Federico Cairoli

Living, feeling, moving around, growing, enjoying and resting are some of the feelings that inspired the design. 

© Federico Cairoli

Presence and absence. The house is lifted from the ground leaving 94% of the lot area free. This creates a circulation on the ground level in which the landscape of pines blends with the barking of dogs and the sound of girls running, cycling and shouting under the house.

© Federico Cairoli

Plan

© Federico Cairoli

On this level, a closed box (open on its upper perimeter –only 50cm before the closings reach the slab) is reduced to a minimum size to liberate the ground area under the house. This is a self-contained compartment with no pedestrian views to the exterior. 

Elevation

© Federico Cairoli

On the ground floor we also find the access to the house, services, garden, barbecue grill and an area for gathering and leisure.

© Federico Cairoli

As we go upstairs, we can get a glimpse at the pine forest through horizontal slits and once there, the house opens to the uninhabited woody environment as a lookout. This is a simple plan: the public area is open on its sides and ends with a concrete wall which hangs with an opening, a cutout that frames the forest in front of the house. Towards the center of the lot, we find the shelter area: a master bedroom with en suite bathroom and a bedroom with a flexible enclosure that allows to use it as a bedroom and playroom, but also to divide it into a second bedroom –thanks to sliding panels – when there are visitors. 

© Federico Cairoli

Structure. “Basically, architecture means to defy the laws of gravity, get rid of supports, to equilibrate.  The rest is comfort, a little bit of comfort over here, a little bit of comfort over there.” Ärtigas Rosa-Villanova.

Section

Section

Far from being a superfluous or banal decision, making the house float over the terrain was the key action that makes sense to the house. To liberate the zero plane. And to do this, the architecture is simple –or at least it looks so-. Two pairs of leaning columns and a few concrete walls carry the structural loads to the sand lot.

© Federico Cairoli

The leaning columns get the loads of two beams which, in turn, receive the loads of other two long beams from which the cable stays that support the slab/upper floor (ground floor roof) hang.

Over the upper slab, the large (height, thickness) short beams –far from being an oxymoron- detach themselves from the cover slab, enabling a fast circulation of rainwater below them. 

© Federico Cairoli

 Light. Every day throughout the year, with different intensity and varying according to the time of the day and season, the shadows cast from the hanging concrete screen on the East, the brisolei and vegetation on the West, the holes on the iron sheet on the ground floor or through the fold on the cover slab over the living room, slip into the house modifying the interior/exterior space perception and generate different atmospheres. Every day is different and so is each time of it.

The presence of leaning columns and an open air space under the cantilevers create light and shadow at the time that offer cool air in summer.

© Federico Cairoli

 Climate. Along the Argentine coast, temperatures vary between -5°C in winter and +35°C in summer. Consequently, houses designed for permanent residence need to provide thermal comfort throughout the year. Concrete walls with expanded polystyrene core plates –found in the center of the formwork- were used in the construction of Alamos House. This simple action reduces the thermal loss between interior/exterior to a minimum and the chance of condensation produced by a temperature difference between the two sides of the concrete wall. Apart from the needed water-proof insulation, the cover slab was filled with cellular concrete. To the West, the glazed front façade offers views to the forest at the time that shelters a private one: different species of plants were placed as a green curtain along an 80cm wide metal shelf which produces shadows, gives privacy and works as an air chamber insulator. On the edge, running the length of the metal shelf, the brisolei -especially designed and manufactured for the house- breaks the views while it unifies and protects the house.

© Federico Cairoli

Material. Alamos House defines itself for liberating the zero plane-maximizing, thus, the use of the lot- and for its materials: the contrast between the concrete and its perfect finish (for those who think that the ‘flaws’ show the traces of the process), the texture of plaster in inner walls, the warmth of wood, the perfect horizontal surfaces and the wooden and marble counters in contrast with the polished concrete floors. 

© Federico Cairoli

To reduce the costs of maintenance –which are measured in terms of money or energy/time of the users- was paramount. Therefore, the house was designed with materials that help reduce these costs to the minimum: structures of exposed reinforced concrete and industrials floors of polished concrete. The ground floor box was closed following a similar logic: a lightweight concrete wall coated in plasterboard in the inside and in corrugated galvanized iron sheet in the outside with an air chamber with glass wool in the center. At Alamos, wood of any kind was used for coating or exterior openings. The brisolei was made of galvanized iron while the railings and fences show galvanized parts as well as anti-corrosive painted iron.  

© Federico Cairoli

Shape. The house does not need to have the shape of a chalet or duplex, but to shelter those spaces that allow its inhabitants to run, sleep, play, read, listen to music or gather with friends. The rest is nonsense, descriptive memory.

 “… for it is not the walls, or the roof; neither is the floor that individualizes a house but the beings who live there with their conversations, laughter, loves and hates, people who impregnate the house with something immaterial but profound, with something so incorporeal as a smile on a face, even though it is through physical objects like carpets, books or colors. Since the paintings we see on the walls, the colors used to paint doors and windows, the design of the carpets, the flowers we find in bedrooms, the discs and books, even though they are material objects (as they also belong to the flesh, lips and eyebrows), they are, however, manifestations of the soul, since the soul cannot manifest itself to our material eyes but through matter, and that is a precariousness of the soul but also a subtle curiosity.”  On Heroes and Tombs. Ernesto Sábato.

© Federico Cairoli

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Courtesy of Paulo Mendes da Rocha archive

The Board of Directors of La Biennale di Venezia, upon recommendation from Alejandro Aravena, have announced the Brazilian Pritzker Prize-winning architect Paulo Mendes da Rocha as the recipient of the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement of the 15th International Architecture Exhibition, Reporting From the Front. Citing the “timelessness” of his work “both physically and stylistically” as “the most striking attribute of his architecture,” the board have also stated that “this astonishing consistency may be the consequence of his ideological integrity and structural genius.”

The citation continues: “He is a nonconformist challenger and simultaneously a passionate realist. His fields of interest are beyond architecture, in political, social, geographical, historical and technical realms. The role model he played for many generations of architects in Brazil, Latin America and everywhere is that of a person able to join shared and collective efforts as well as someone able to attract others to the cause of a better built environment.”

All space must be attached to a value, to a public dimension. There is no private space. The only private space that you can imagine is the human mind.

—Paulo Mendes da Rocha (May 26, 2004)

About Paulo Mendes da Rocha

“Paulo Mendes da Rocha spent his childhood between the city of Vitória, the harbour capital of Espírito Santo where he was born in October 1928 at his maternal grandparents’ house, and Paquetá Island, in the middle of Guanabara Bay in Rio de Janeiro, the national capital, where the Mendes da Rocha family lived.

The architect’s family moved to the city of  São Paulo in 1940, where his father Paulo Menezes Mendes da Rocha was appointed Chair of the Naval and Harbour Resources of the Polytechnic School of the Universidade de São Paulo, which he directed from 1943 to 1947.

Still in São Paulo, Paulo Mendes da Rocha graduated from the Mackenzie Architecture School in 1954 and was able to build a solid carrier as a designer of houses, schools, apartment buildings, museums, furniture, theatre sets and several urban projects.

After graduation, he won a national project competition in 1957 for the construction of a gymnasium, the Clube Atlético Paulistano. This work brought him public recognition and also won the Grande Prêmio Presidência da República at the 6th Bienal of São Paulo in 1961. In 1968, the architect won the national project competition for the Brazilian pavilion at Osaka Expo 70 and traveled to that city to follow the construction development in 1969.

Amongst several international honours, he has been awarded the Honorary Fellowship from the Conselho Internacional dos Arquitetos de Língua Portuguesa, The Mies Van der Rohe Foundation Prize for his project for São Paulo’s Pinacoteca. Furthermore, he was selected in 2000 to represent Brazil at the 7th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia. He received the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2006.

In Brazil, the architect was twice honoured with the Ordem do Mérito Cultural, in 2004 and 2013. He also received the Troféu APCA (Associação Paulista de Críticos de Arte) twice, in 2012 and 2015. Whilst working as an architect, Mendes da Rocha joined the world of academia thanks to his good friend, Vilanova Artigas, one of Brazil’s most remarkable architects. Both architects enhanced the School of Architecture of the Universidade de São Paulo with their social and humanistic views, which have had a major influence on many generations of architects and artists to come.”

Courtesy of Paulo Mendes da Rocha archive

The acknowledgment will be awarded on Saturday May 28th 2016 at Ca’ Giustinian—the headquarters of La Biennale di Venezia—during the awards ceremony and inauguration of the 15th Exhibition (which will open to the public at 10:00 am on the same day).

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Courtesy of ROSSETTI

ROSSETTI has unveiled their design for a proposed development in downtown Detroit on the site of a currently unfinished jail. The project features a new MLS stadium with 20,000-25,000 seats, a training facility, a retail area, a parking structure for more than 5,000 cars, and four towers programmed for a hotel and residential and office spaces.

Courtesy of ROSSETTI

The proposed new gateway aims to transform this area of the city into a destination for sports, entertainment, retail, and hospitality, and will balance open pedestrian spaces with a “world-class urban environment for the city.” Once completed, the site will serve as an anchor for the future 300-acre entertainment district.

Courtesy of ROSSETTI

“Central to the project’s design is porosity and creating an uninterrupted experience between the public realm and physical buildings,” said Matt Rossetti, Detroit native and CEO and President of ROSSETTI, in a press release. “In it, we explore how to unite cities with nature, people with habitats, sports with culture. We endeavor to have all anchor developments facilitating pedestrian movement horizontally and vertically through a ‘green belt’ podium.”

Courtesy of ROSSETTI

The aforementioned podium can be used by the public from the ground level all the way to the rooftop nature trail, which will run about 8-10 blocks and connect the four towers. Large civic plazas will allow for different programming year-round and create a sense of community in the new district.

The development will also restore the city’s infrastructure on a larger scale by creating a connection between the center of the downtown area with the Eastern Market.

The design was commissioned by Detroit Pistons owner Tom Gores and Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert, with the acknowledgement of MLS Commissioner Don Garber. The next steps in the development of the project include further discussions between the City of Detroit, Wayne County, Rock Ventures, Platinum Equity, the MLS and other stakeholders.

Learn more about the proposed project here.

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Cinque Ports Street; Rye / Jonathan Dunn Architects. Image © Oliver Perrot

The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has announced six winners for its RIBA South East Awards, which recognize architectural excellence in the regions of Kent, Surrey, East Sussex, West Sussex and the Channel Islands. These winners will be considered for a RIBA National Award, which will be announced on June 23. Winners of the National Award will then be eligible for the RIBA Stirling Prize later in the year.

The six winners of the RIBA South East Awards are:

North Vat; Kent / Rodic Davidson Architects

North Vat; Kent / Rodic Davidson Architects. Image © Helene Binet

The architects had previously worked with the clients on the refurbishment of their London home. Here the brief was to create a single living environment, allowing for entertainment, enjoyment and art. This was to be a calm and simple space where everyday activities could co-exist and all aspects of the surrounding landscape could be observed. There was no question about replacing the existing fisherman’s cottage and the form was conceived as a ‘cluster’ of small shed-like structures, referential to the local vernacular of pitched roof huts scattered along the beach front. The plan form of the proposed cluster was derived from the locations of the existing cottage and sheds, minimally adjusted to provide a simple living layout whilst maintaining a low impact on the ground ecology and sustaining the sense of randomness that was found in the original buildings.

Gateway Café; Peacehaven / Kaner Olette Architects

Gateway Café; Peacehaven / Kaner Olette Architects. Image © Richard Chivers

The Gateway Interpretation Café in Peacehaven is an exemplar for retrofit design due to its holistic sustainability approach and collaborative local community-led approach. Although a relatively small project with a budget of £340k, it has attempted to ‘raise the bar’ for design in a pocket of deprivation in the south east. This modest building by Kaner Olette Architects is essentially a remodelling of an old maintenance depot, which was built in 1979 in brick and asbestos.

During the development of the wider masterplan with Allen Scott Landscape, it was identified that the building was in a strategically important location to form a link between the existing sports and community facilities to the new park areas and the South Downs National Park. Building on the ‘gateway’ concept, it was decided that the maintenance building was to be retained and remodelled. Whilst the footprint and roofline is broadly observed, the transformation is remarkable. 

An economic new skin (around the brickwork to improve thermal performance) of zinc and sweet chestnut belies thoughtful detailing, with the ability to open up the café with large sliding doors in good weather. These act as security shutters when closed, but this is another example where good architecture appears to engender respect – the previous incarnation was the subject of constant vandalism. 

Cinque Ports Street; Rye / Jonathan Dunn Architects

Cinque Ports Street; Rye / Jonathan Dunn Architects. Image © Oliver Perrot

The scheme provides a mix of residential accommodation with six flats, two penthouses, a studio and a detached house, with two commercial units to the street frontage. A central courtyard marks the line of the town wall. JDA took design cues from the historic imagery of warehouses along the river front and from the traditional coastal architecture of the East Sussex. The intention was to emphasise the simplicity of the traditional forms and materials by creating a street front elevation with a dramatic angular roof line and simple elevational detailing and treatment. The pallet of materials has been limited to dark timber rain screen cladding, slate and render. Careful consideration was given to the only apparently randomly placed windows in order to maximise the views towards the Rother valley and catch the best light. The panels are pre-insulated in factory conditions to ensure a very tight, well-sealed external fabric.

The close relationship between developer, architect and owner-occupier has led to an important infill of an intricate mixed-use complex in an historic setting. The architects have skilfully tiptoed around the remains of the Medieval wall, as well as resolving issues of access, overlooking and parking on a tight site, to achieve a rich mix of commercial space and dwellings: apartments, houses and penthouses. The latter benefit from long views over the town and Tillingham Valley beyond, and from generous volumes created from the dancing roofline, which takes its references from the organic Rye roofscape.

New House; East Sussex / BBM Sustainable Design

New House; East Sussex / BBM Sustainable Design. Image © Leigh Simpson

The new house was allowed to be more architecturally expressive, responding to the site, its topography, views, orientation and the forms of the adjacent Oast House. The roof is lifted up and twisted around to face due south, to benefit the solar panels. The roof also collects rainwater for re-use throughout the site. The estate’s 150 acres of woodland supplies biomass to heat this development which is designed as ‘Code for Sustainable Homes’ Level 5. A rammed earth wall greets you as to enter the house. Elsewhere lime plaster is applied direct to masonry walls and ceilings.

The Grade II listed Oast House had suffered from insensitive conversion in the 1970s. All the joinery has now been redone in oak, the wall re-pointed using traditional lime putty mortar and the roof replaced with clay peg tiles. All this was done while retrofitting the building to ensure its carbon footprint was reduced by 80%.

The Narrow House; East Sussex / Sanei Hopkins Architects

The Narrow House; East Sussex / Sanei Hopkins Architects. Image © Peter Landers

The cool exterior does not prepare one for the assault on the senses that the privilege of an invitation inside brings (save for a striking sculpture peeping over the balcony and coloured lasers overhead in the front porch). The house is part-home, part-lookout and part gallery for an outstanding collection of artwork and sculptures. Many of the latter are kinetic, responding to noise or movement, adding an additional sense of life to the space.

John Soane’s influence purveys the house, with every conceivable inch of space utilised to exhibit or store this unique collection. Given the labyrinthine nature of the house, the main circulation is reassuringly simple with a single stair climbing from the front door with living and sleeping accommodation organised to one side. Even the stair treads are laser cut to spell out the shipping forecast in morse code for the observant visitor. At the end of the upward journey is a roof terrace (itself also a mini sculpture park) with breathtaking views out to sea.

Due to the geography of the region, protection from the elements became a recurring theme of this year’s visits. This house not only fronts a constantly-moving shingle beach, it sits below it. Hence, the high level-window sills of the lower floor bedroom are at beach level, reminding one of Lutyens’s eye-level tricks at Castle Drogo.

Le Petit Fort; Jersey / Hudson Architects

Le Petit Fort; Jersey / Hudson Architects. Image © Edmund Sumner

Set within the retained walls of an earlier building, Le Petit Fort offers an imaginative response to its setting and historical context through carefully considered contemporary architecture, a rich materials palette and fine craftsmanship. Le Petit Fort occupies the site of an earlier (now demolished) farmstead. This was constructed in the early 20th century and enclosed within massive granite walls, which have been retained and restored and which offer much needed shelter from the elements experienced only metres from the unforgiving Jersey shoreline. The reference to Napoleonic Martello towers and WWII fortifications is unavoidable and indeed intentional; so much so that this large house could be mistaken as part of that military collection from a distance. In fact the house was conceived to complete the concept of the ‘fort’ by building the missing fourth wall of the enclosure and creating a central element representing a ‘keep’. This three-storey entrance block, like the perimeter walls, is constructed from Jersey granite, reclaimed from the earlier building.

News and project descriptions via the Royal Institute of British Architects.

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"Untitled" – Fictions, 2007. Image © Filip Dujardin

A practice of architects, an interior architecture firm, and an architectural photographer will together be presenting the Belgian contribution to the 2016 Venice Biennale. Architecten de vylder vinck taillieu, interdoorzon interieurarchitecten and Filip Dujardin—self-styled as the Bravoure (Bravura) team—will explore “what craftsmanship can mean during a period of economic scarcity” as, according to the curatorial team, “dealing with scarcity demands a high level of precision.”

Commissioned by the Flanders Architecture Institute (VAi), which coordinates the Belgian entry to the Venice Biennale every four years on a rotating basis with the French community, the show will exhibit fragments of thirteen representative projects from thirteen Flemish architects by means of 1:1 replicas. According to De Vylder, “the fragment is exhibited as it really is. At the same time, it is cut out of its context, which ultimately gives it a new dimension.”

Memorial I. Image © Filip Dujardin

The practices which have contributed to the show include: De Smet Vermeulen architecten, Philippe Vander Maren – Richard Venlet, Wim Goes Architectuur, architecten Els Claessens en Tania Vandenbussche, Eagles of Architecture, Jo Van Den Berghe – architect, BURO II & ARCHI+I, Robbrecht en Daem architecten i.s.m. Arch & Teco, OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen, Laura Muyldermans + Atelier Starzak Strebicki, Gijs Van Vaerenbergh, Stéphane Beel Architects and Architectenbureau Bart Dehaene – Sileghem & Partners in collaboration with Ante Timmermans.

"BRAVOURE" Team. Image © Filip Dujardin

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© Marc Goodwin

• Architects: JKMM Architects
• Location: Helsinki, Finland
• Area: 1007.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2015
• Photographs: Marc Goodwin

• Client: Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Company, Tarja Koskela (real estate manager), Tuomas Vaarasalo (construction manager)
• Head Design: JKMM Architects, Samuli Miettinen, SAFA architect
• Architect Design Team: Kristian Forsberg (project architect), Rami Lehtimäki (project architect for interior design), Elina Niemi and Noora Lehtimäki (interior architects)
• Contractor: Consti Korjausurakointi Oy, Jussi Penttilä (site engineer), Suvi Lepola (site supervisor)
• Structural Engineering: Finmap Consulting Oy, Anssi Kolehmainen

© Marc Goodwin

When JKMM Architects was founded in 1998, its office was located in Kamp, Helsinki. At the end of 2007, the office moved to Lapinrinne 3, an office building designed by Raoul Lehman in 1978. JKMM operated from the third floor of this building for over seven years. As the office grew, the decision was made to expand the facilities to the top three floors of the same real estate. The designing of the new office space started in spring 2014. The office moved to the new premises in April 2015.

© Marc Goodwin

The main idea of the new office was to combine three floors into one space with two straight staircases. The stair opening unites the floors visually and functionally, as well as creates an important meeting space in the middle of the office. Now the essence of the work environment is openness and it supports a sense of community. All of the fixed workstations are located in the open office space. Ancillary spaces and conference rooms have been separated from the multi space office environment by sound proofed glass walls and sliding glass doors. The door frames are made from Finnish pine. The calm and modern architecture creates a comfortable working environment. On the lowest floor, the office space expands outwards as a roof terrace, which has a view of the Helsinki city center.

Plan 2

© Marc Goodwin

Plan 3

Openings in the intermediate floor panels have been reinforced with carbon fiber composite. The intermediate floor panels have been straightened and coated with a cement coating that has been dyed through. The handrails of the stairs and the openings are made from glass.  The acoustically treated papier-mâché surface has been smoothed. General lighting is provided by profile lights, which are fixed to the ceiling. The art work painted on the floors and ceilings in the office space is designed by graphic artist Aimo Katajamäki. The actual painting was done by the office’s own employees. All work stations have ergonomic, height adjustable electric work tables in the new office. The furniture in the office space is made from Finnish wood and handcrafted in Finland. The furniture designed by the office was crafted by Nikari, AKSI and Saaren puusepät. 

© Marc Goodwin

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© Eugeni Pons

• Architects: Dominique Coulon & associés
• Location: 89 Impasse Joan Miro, 34980 Montferrier-sur-Lez, France
• Design Team: Dominique Coulon, Steve Letho Duclos
• Area: 3444.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2015
• Photographs: Eugeni Pons

• Architects Assistants : Fanny Liénart, Olivier Poulat
• Construction, Site Supervision : Steve Letho Duclos, Olivier Poulat
• Structural Engineer : Batiserf Ingénierie
• Mechanical Plumbing Engineer : Solares Bauen
• Electrical Engineer : BET G.Jost
• Cost Estimator: E3 économie
• Acoustics: Euro sound project
• Landscape: Bruno Kubler
• Client: Ville de Montpellier
• Budget: 7 300 000 € H.T

© Eugeni Pons

From the architect. The school unit is part of Montpellier’s dynamic for development, the aim being to connect the city with the sea. The school is set on a small triangular plot of land, in keeping with the urban policy for densifying a new residential area.

Diagram

The ground floor is taken up by the nursery school and the centre for before- and after-school activities. The primary school occupies the other two floors, with its playground on top of the nursery school. The volumes are designed as autonomous elements which appear to slide over each other, with their cantilevering providing covering for sections of the playground. Each volume is in a different colour or material. The bays have been designed according to their orientation and the level of light required.

© Eugeni Pons

Ground Floor

© Eugeni Pons

Transit routes receive natural lighting from the patios and tall openings. The first-floor classrooms can be accessed directly from the playground, without having to pass through the rest of the building.

© Eugeni Pons

© Eugeni Pons

The classrooms are open at either end, and hence face both north and south. This produces ideal lighting conditions, as well as natural cooling by the passage of air through the classrooms from one end to the other.

© Eugeni Pons

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© Tal Nisim

• Architects: Ron Fleisher Architects
• Location: Wadi Ara, Hadera, Israel
• Landscape Architect: Kfir Fisher
• Project Year: 2015
• Photographs: Tal Nisim

© Tal Nisim

From the architect. Ron Fleisher architects office  planned the extension of a mid 20’th century village house in Wadi-Ara at times where all the Wadi rioted during the last tension. Being the main road connecting Palestinian highly populated cities in the north of Israel, The villages surplus the Wadi and many of the old village houses are converted into businesses and office buildings.

© Tal Nisim

The original house was built in the 60’s and due to the changes in traffic and density was abounded in the beginning of the current century. The business\ industrial strip was just the right location for the new owner, a local construction firm. The location, close to many of the workers home villages, yet on one of Israel’s main roads reflects both the firm’s operational needs from one hand and the changing image of a growing global organization which defines a new status for traditional yet innovative Arab women. The objective was to combine both identities and world view.

Plan 1

© Tal Nisim

Plan 2

The old house was piled to it’s concrete frame. Then it was reinforced and treated against water damages. To its west, a new extension was added and a glass wall facing the road covered the south façade. The main way to let natural light into the building without exposing to direct southern Mediterranean sun and the 24/7 traffic, the glassed façade was covered with a white metal net, shading the building and creating a simple, geometric, clear image, facing the road, emphasizing both the local Muslim building heritage, using a mashrabia (the traditional semi-transparent screens used to keep privacy) like element,  made of contemporary material.

© Tal Nisim

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© Brett Boardman

• Architects: lahznimmo architects
• Location: Parkes ACT, Australia
• Landscape Architects: Spackman Mossop Michaels
• Project Year: 2015
• Photographs: Brett Boardman

• Client: National Capital Authority
• Structural Engineer: Taylor Thomson Whitting
• Civil Engineer: Taylor Thomson Whitting
• Electrical And Lighting Consultants: Lighting, Art and Science
• Construction: Woden Contractors
• Software Used: ArchiCAD

© Brett Boardman

In 2011 lahznimmo architects won an invited competition for the design of a new pedestrian and cyclist crossing in Bowen Place, Canberra. 

© Brett Boardman

Within the context of the Parliamentary Zone and the associated important heritage items, the design looks to provide a simple and elegant response. It does not seek to detract from, or compete with the existing items within the environs – enhancing existing geometries, landscape and place making opportunities. 

Site Plan

The design response is fundamentally landscape driven – the new underpass is part of a continuous path that slices through the terrain on a trajectory that speaks to the existing geometries of the Bowen Place cloverleaf freeway and the views to the National Carillon. The new insertion is deliberately minimal to allow the landscape setting to take precedence. 

© Brett Boardman

The path is contained by two wall types, the Deferential Wall – a taut smooth off-white pre-cast concrete that deliberately defers to the existing palette of materials and tones within the Parliamentary Zone; and the Assertive Wall – composed of a deeply profiled weathering steel that naturally ages to a rusty ochre appearance and appears to be wrinkled and compressed as it follows the tighter inside line of the path. 

© Brett Boardman

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© Yuko Tada

• Architects: Kazuki Moroe Architects
• Location: Toin, Inabe District, Mie Prefecture, Japan
• Area: 132.2 sqm
• Project Year: 2013
• Photographs: Yuko Tada

• Structural Engineer: Takashi Takamizawa／Ladderup Architect
• General Contractor: Maruhei Kensetsu Co., Ltd
• Site Area: 372.45 sqm
• Building Area: 89.57 sqm

© Yuko Tada

From the architect. There is a noble Shinto shrine on the southeastern side of the site.

I thought about how a house confronts with the forest of the Shinto shrine. At first I divided a building into four boxes to assume it a scale smaller than the Shinto shrine. Four boxes are pent roof, and the continuity of the roof harmonizes with the mountain range of the northeast side.

© Yuko Tada

Plan

© Yuko Tada

The plan of each box is the trapezoid. With the inclined ceiling, the wall widens or narrows for the Shinto shrine.
The windows facing the Shinto shrine have various forms as follows. Picture window, sliding door, corner-less window, bay window, window with louver, window over terrace.  The form and opening rate of the window is decided depending on the degree of the privacy of the room.

Section

Thus, I have made a variety of facing the shrine. Options of the choice of the comfort increase by doing it.

© Yuko Tada

Adversely there are sightlines and lines of flow which go through four boxes. You can look around the whole house and a parking lot and a garden from the kitchen. I thought that rich space is born by making a diagram and breaking it on purpose.

© Yuko Tada

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