At ArchDaily we want to see more women showing their projects to the world and receiving the recognition they deserve for their work. Today, we celebrate International Women’s Day and, with the help of our readers, we want to continue to give visibility to the valuable contribution made every day to the field of architecture by millions of colleagues.
We invite all women who run their own architecture offices, and haven’t had the opportunity to see their projects published in ArchDaily yet, to participate in this open call by showing us their work. Share a link to your portfolio with us, showing at least 3 architecture projects of your own. They can be built or unbuilt, participation in competitions, renders, etc.
Of the portfolios that we receive, we will select a diverse sample, from different parts of the world and age groups, of the best architecture works by women.
Important: Send us a link to your portfolio as a pdf. You can also send us your website, but we prefer it if you narrow down the scope of work you are presenting. If you don't have a portfolio or website, you can send us a link to a Google Drive or dropbox folder. Please do not send files that are larger than 8MB. Please do not send any compressed files (.zip, .rar, etc).
Landscape Consultants: Fox Fearnley Landscape Office
Text description provided by the architects. This house in located in a small village on the north Devon Coast. The site is accessed down a long drive and the building is tucked up against the slope of the site, to make the most of the long views down to the sea from the upper levels.
A stone gable end is the first glimpse you get of this building, with an industrial chimney, dark against the grey stone. The clients asked us to include some elements of a New England beach house, and so an external material of green oak boarding was used together with the local stone.
Ground floor plan
Built as a family holiday home, and designed to maximise the number of bedrooms and open living space, the building is simple in form - a neat pitched volume coupled with a generous entrance porch. This porch provides a formal entrance as well as direct access to a large mud room for drying wetsuits from days out surfing and muddy boots from walking the costal paths.
The building is split down the middle by a central stair. On entering, the hall opens up to a double height space with views of the garden. The main living space is open plan, with a separate games space for the children and the practical necessities of a large larder and laundry.
Section 01
Up the open tread stairs, on the first floor, the split volumes separate the master bedroom suite from the main bedroom wing. Here, a long corridor with a single pane window at the far end, leads to four double bedrooms. Half way along the corridor is a secret stair, tucked among the linen cupboards, which winds up to two further attic bedrooms above.
New York-based Stephen B Jacobs Group has almost completed construction on a pair of towers at 29-26 Northern Boulevard in Long Island City. Dubbed the QE7 for its adjacency to the Q, E, and 7 trains (not to mention its cruise ship-like amenities), the pair of towers will contain 467 units, including 13 floors dedicated to the largest co-living development in North America.
What makes this building so unique, however, is how the architects and engineers devised a solution to overcome noise generated by the three neighboring subway lines.
Modern cities, especially New York, are always looking for ways to increase density, which often means building in locations that were once overlooked due to their particular site conditions. Earlier this week, we spoke with Principal Isaac-Daniel Astrachan of SBJGroup to explain how his firm managed to reduce noise levels on this site.
Programmatic Space Planning
Astrachan first explained the surrounding context of the tricky site: the area is situated right where three subway lines lines diverge, and at the intersection of several busy thoroughfares. SBJGroup realized immediately that the design of the apartment complex would have to be extremely innovative and carefully planned to reduce as much noise from the area as possible.
One of the first steps they took to reduce the noise was to move the building footprint as far away from the tracks as possible. SBJGroup then located public spaces and amenities that could tolerate the noise, such as the two-story gym on the lower levels, in the areas of the floor plate that would be closer to the rumble of the subway lines. Soaring up above, the 43 stories of apartments, rooftop lounge, and other desired quiet areas, are further from the reach of the train noise.
Architectural Design
The elements used in the building design also played a large role in how the noise pollution was reduced. Astrachan explained how the design team quickly realized that the windows would be the “weak link and they needed to influence the design of the building in some way.” The team designed various window sizes that allow for different levels of noise to come through depending on the program inside. The lower level punch windows measure at 3 x 5 feet (0.9 x 1.5 meters), and allow for only minimal noise penetration. As the floors go up, they feature larger windows until the glass completely wraps the building at the top.
The 37th floor features setbacks which not only allow for even more amenity space, but also a reduction of noise at the building’s higher levels.
Acoustical Engineering
SBJGroup followed The New York City Noise Code, which was devised to reduce the “making, creation or maintenance of excessive and unreasonable and prohibited noises within the city” which it states “affects and is a menace to public health, comfort, convenience, safety, welfare and the prosperity of the people of the city.” The code states that the sound level in any area must not exceed 35 decibels. For reference, a normal whisper is around 30 decibels and typical midtown Manhattan traffic measures in anywhere from 70-85 decibels.
To take a further step in reducing the constant noise pollution, architects at SBJGroup sat down with a team of acoustical engineers from AKRF and used technology that simulated the sounds of the rattling and squeaking subways through different glass panels to find the best solution to the noise issue. Together, they took on a new adaptation of existing technology, by triple glazing the glass, resulting in noise levels of 37 decibels from floors 23 to the roof and 39 decibels from the ground floor to the 22nd floor.
Lead Architects Realization: Florian Idenburg, Ilias Papageorgiou, Jing Liu, Danny Duong, Kevin Lamyuktseung, Alvaro Gomez-Selles Ferndandez
Lead Architects Competition: Florian Idenburg, Ilias Papageorgiou, Jing Liu, Danny Duong, Seunghyun Kang, Nile Greenberg, Pietro Pagliaro, Andre Herrero, Madelyn Ringo, Jacopo Lugli
Text description provided by the architects. The Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art at the University of California at Davis is the first contemporary arts museum for the university and for the city of Davis. Paying close attention to the museum’s many contexts, we designed an innovative organization of its architectural spaces, intermingling public areas with gallery and event space, both indoor and outdoor. The result offers a model for the future museum that is neither isolated nor exclusive, but open and permeable. Rather than a static shrine, it is a constantly evolving public event that welcomes diverse audiences.
Site Plan
The design amplifies the museum’s variety of arts programming and reflects the legacy of avant-garde art- making at the university, where talents like Wayne Thiebaud, Robert Arneson, and William T. Wiley were nurtured. With formal classrooms and art studios that open into the lobby, the museum is a living experiment for teaching, making, and interacting with art. Smooth zones of the corrugated façade allow for outdoor screenings and a glass-walled courtyard also functions as an outdoor sculpture gallery.
A Grand Canopy is the museum’s signature element. We created a rolling form like an undulating quilt patchworked with aluminum beams that stretches over both the site and the building. The canopy responds to the university’s abundant natural landscape and agricultural context, echoing the grids of farming fields. As a visual signal, it also announces the museum as a new social node and emblem for the university as a whole.
Beneath the canopy, the spatial qualities of diversity and transparency underscore the museum’s democratic stance. Casually emerging at the edge of the campus, the unique form of the canopy draws visitors from a distance. The subtle interplay of light and shadow across the public plaza helps blur the boundary between civic and institutional spheres. Inside, a glass-walled lobby invites interaction, situated at the intersection of areas for viewing, learning, and making. These interconnected interior and exterior spaces create informal opportunities for experiencing art, supporting the museum’s mission to have all visitors become students.
The Arch for Arch, an intertwined wooden archway honoring Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu, has debuted in downtown Cape Town, South Africa on a site near Parliament where Tutu held many of his anti-Apartheid protests.
Designed by Snøhetta and Johannesburg-based Local Studio, in collaboration with Design Indaba and Hatch engineers, the Arch for Arch consists of 14 woven strands of Larch wood, representing the 14 chapters of South Africa’s constitution. Reaching nearly 30 feet tall (9 meters), the structure invite visitors to pass through and be reminded of the location’s prominent role in their country’s history on their way to the Company’s Garden, one of the most popular public spaces in the city since its establishment in 1652.
The archway uses structure as a metaphor for integrity and strength.
“A traditional arch is supported by opposing forces pushing against one another, held together by a keystone,” explain Snøhetta. “These structural properties emerged as a core concept for the design, where the Arch stands as a metaphor for the integrity of the country’s democracy whose conceptual keystone is the Constitution of South Africa.”
“Together the arching wooden elements inscribe a globe, celebrating Archbishop Tutu’s role as a unifying figure for the international peace movement.”
The Larch wood selected for the Arch is highly durable and weather-resistant, which will allow the structure to age gracefully. The material’s warmth is also unusual for a memorial, which typically convey messages of solidity and permanence through materials like stone or concrete. This choice was made to encourage people to interact with the structure in a friendlier way.
“The Arch for Arch is more than a monument for Archbishop Tutu. It builds on the legacy of South Africa’s foremost campaigner for democracy to create a platform for public participation in upholding the Constitution,” continues Snøhetta. “The Arch will stand as a permanent tribute to what was sacrificed in the pursuit of democracy, and the vital necessity of protecting these rights for generations to come.”
Pictured at far right: Archbishop Desmond Tutu at the 2017 Design Indaba Conference, where the design was first unveiled. Image Courtesy of Design Indaba
The Arch was first unveiled for Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s 86th birthday on October 7, 2017. A second, smaller version of the Arch was also erected on Constitution Hill in Johannesburg, near the Constitutional Court, on December 10th honoring the 21st anniversary of the signing of the South African Constitution.
Text description provided by the architects. This 350 square meters urban residence, located in the city of São Paulo, was conceived in 2 floors, based on bold design, giving maximum emphasis to space integration, a range of rooms, comfort, and privacy.
The space integration and ample rooms define the project, especially in the social areas, that faces the backyard garden and pool. This concept provides much privacy for the entire residence, and at the same time, integrates all the house throughout its garden.
The social areas, fully glazed in sliding glass panels, with full openings, brings the garden to inside. The grey tone given to the finishings, emphasizes the details in natural wood and matt black painting. The steel plate stair stands sculpturally between social spaces, as a functional divider.
The 4 million-square-meter OsloAirport City (OAC) masterplan embodies the Norwegian government’s ambition to move from an oil-based economy to one powered by renewable energy. Embracing low carbon features and green technologies, the Airport City will have the capacity to sell surplus energy to surrounding buildings. More than a city of present abilities, the scheme will serve as a test-bed for future technologies, including electric driverless cars, auto-lighting, smart waste, and perhaps most ambitiously, a fleet of electric aircraft.
Courtesy of Forbes Massie
Oslo Airport City will be a catalyst for high-value economic activity in Norway. We expect it to deliver long-term, highly skilled jobs creating science and technology-based products. As long-term city developers with focus on sustainable, innovative solutions, we believe the future of airport city development in Norway and Oslo is not a matter of if, but when! – Thor Thoeneie, Managing Director, OsloAirport City
More than a playground for a technological age, OAC incorporates human-centred strategies for its predicted 40,000 population. Public parks, green spaces and leisure centres cater to Norway’s passion for sports and outdoor activities. A car-free city centre is proposed, with citizens never more than five minutes from public transport nodes.
Courtesy of Forbes Massie
This is a unique opportunity to design a new city from scratch. Using robust city planning strategies such as walkability, appropriate densities, active frontages and a car free city centre, combined with the latest developments in technology, we will be able to create a green, sustainable city of the future. – Tomas Stokke, Director, Haptic Architects
Courtesy of Forbes Massie
Courtesy of Forbes Massie
Construction of the Oslo Airport City is expected to begin in 2019, with the first buildings completed in 2022.
82 Text description provided by the architects. Designed by Oslo-based practice Nordic-Office of Architecture, the 115,000 sqm expansion to Oslo Airport sets new standards in sustainability. The competition-winning design, which uses snow as a coolant, has achieved the world's first BREEAM 'Excellent' sustainability rating for an airport building.
Text description provided by the architects. Located in a residential neighborhood of Curitiba, with a single-story building and a large wooded area, the project is an annex of a house and serves as a leisure area and support an indoor pool. The project intends to enrich the architectural set through a new volume that aesthetically expresses its residential character in a contemporary way without creating a dialogue with the existing construction. In the program requested by customers accessibility has always been at the top of the list of requirements and all spaces, dimensions, circulations and materials were designed to meet all types of special needs.
The annex is a rectangular volume of 18 meters long by 8 meters wide, executed in exposed concrete (with slatted wood forms) and glass (aluminum frames with double glass) conforming a contemporary and timeless architectural set, robust in durability but lighter on compositional lines. Living room, dining and gourmeterie are integrated to shelter social activities. The large sliding glass doors open completely allowing free access to the outside, duplicating the living area. The pool, garden and several adjoining terraces provide multiple uses and occupations for various activities. Its occupants can float between spaces as the sun and light move until dusk.
On the north facade of the residence a terrace is covered by a wide concrete marquee with a large opening to frame the moon. In this environment the coffee table can turn into a fireplace to warm everyone around the fire under the moonlight. Following some principles of sustainability, the framework design received "flags" (maximum-air openings above sliding doors) that allow cross-ventilation throughout the day by cooling the building. The flooring is a quartz and marble composite, which combines sustainability with the practicality and resistance that the site demands. All the project's illumination was performed on LED lamps of low consumption and high durability. Two large "L" shaped rulers - designed by the architect Jorge Elmor (executed by Design Selo) - emanate a soft light diffused on the concrete ceiling, valuing the texture and volumetric of the roof.
Inside the concrete of the vertical closures gives space for large panels of wood (Italian walnut) - a material of low environmental impact that in addition to its aesthetic attributes affects temperature and shelter for its users. These panels, behind the generous caeser stone bench (4.5m long) in the gourmetrie, hide the cabinets and the grill. The same feature was used in the living room, where Italian walnut covers the home theater and camouflages the bathroom door. A formal entry for the gourmet space has not been created. The possibility of accessing the interior by any of the glazed sliding doors, located on the perimeter of the entire building, enhances the physical and visual permeability of the building, eliminating any barriers between the main house, the annex and the surrounding gardens. This concept allows to create several levels of privacy, offering the possibility of isolation or social interaction.
The Shed under construction as seen from the High Line, February 2018. Photo by Ed Lederman
New renderings and details of The Shed at Hudson Yards have been revealed as the structure’s ETFE panels continue to be installed ahead of its Spring 2019 opening date.
The new images show how some of the cultural venue’s interior spaces will look, including the galleries and the vast event space created when the wheeled steel structure is rolled out to its furthest extents. This space will be known as “the McCourt,” named after businessman Frank McCourt Jr, who donated $45 million to the project.
Designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro in collaboration with Rockwell Group, the 200,000-square-foot cultural center was envisioned as a spiritual successor to Cedric Price’s visionary “Fun Palace,” a flexible framework that could transform to host different types of events.
Rendering of The McCourt, courtesy of Diller Scofidio + Renfro in collaboration with Rockwell Group
The Shed under construction. February 2018. Photo by Ed Lederman
The Shed also announced the first group of commissions that will occupy the building during its inaugural season. True to the center’s concept, the opening works will cover a wide range of topics and media forms, largely including those “informed by cutting-edge technologies.”
“The original idea for The Shed was relatively simple: provide a place for artists working in all disciplines to make and present work for audiences from all walks of life,” said The Shed’s Artistic Director and CEO Alex Poots. “Our opening programs begin to show how these artists, art forms and audiences can thrive together under one roof.”
Rendering of The McCourt with seating, courtesy of Diller Scofidio + Renfro in collaboration with Rockwell Group
Rendering of The McCourt with standing room, courtesy of Diller Scofidio + Renfro in collaboration with Rockwell Group
The program includes:
a new live production celebrating the unrivaled impact of African American music on art and popular culture over the past 100 years, conceived by acclaimed filmmaker and artist Steve McQueen, developed and produced with music industry legend Quincy Jones, respected NYU Professor Maureen Mahon, and preeminent hip-hop producer Dion ‘No I.D.’ Wilson
a live performance/exhibition pairing works by master painter Gerhard Richter with a new composition by Steve Reich and extant composition by Arvo Pärt
a reinvention of Euripides’ Helen by poet Anne Carson, starring Ben Whishaw and Renée Fleming
an original live production co-conceived by Chen Shi-Zheng and Kung Fu Panda screenwriters Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger, with songs by Sia and choreography by Akram Khan
expansive exhibitions devoted to extant and newly commissioned work by trailblazing artists Trisha Donnelly and Agnes Denes
An unprecedented opportunity for New York City-based, early-career artists of all disciplines to develop and showcase their work throughout The Shed’s spaces via an Open Call commissioning program
The Shed under construction as seen from the north, February 2018. Photo by Timothy Schenck
Rendering of the Gallery on Level 4, courtesy of Diller Scofidio + Renfro in collaboration with Rockwell Group
Poots also announced the appointment of Serpentine Galleries curator Hans Ulrich Obrist as The Shed’s Senior Program Advisor. In this role, Obrist will collaborate with the curatorial team to “develop and commission a wide range of new work in all disciplines.”
Sci Arc Student Workshop: Cheryl Linn, Saul Kim, Marianna Girgenti, Leo Liu, Luiza De Souza, Nicholas Perseo, Yunki Cheung, Bianca Hernandez, Cindy Liu, Adriane Yi, Rebecca Wiscombe, Daniel Arismendys Taveras-Hernandez, Siddardha Chalamala, Melissa Alvarez, Borja Lopez Calvino, German Diaz, Anna Bahudian, Justin Elliot, William Chen, Sammi Liang, Tucker van Leuwen-Hall.
Text description provided by the architects. Thick is a research project that explores material thickness as a site of an architectural investigation. Alluded to in section, camouflaged in the figure-ground, and presented as a foil in the developed surface drawing, material thickness is an understudied architectural condition. Thickness evades the elevation and hides out in the edges of projective drawing. As such, it is often considered a mere inconvenience of the real within systems of representation, and has served as an elusive site for many acts of design. The project explores the peripheral role of material thickness within historic and contemporary processes of tooling and production.
Thick 01
Thick 02
Thick 03
The condition of thickness — the necessity of thickness — carries no central import in any era of architectural thinking, but still manages to circulate through different eras of architectural thinking. Its condition is linked to (but is not central to) the history of stereotomy and stone construction; in the emergence of new forms of architectural drawing (see Robyn Evans’ “The Developed Surface”); and in the classic problem of the Doric order. Even in the Modernist obfuscation of solid form, it remains an unavoidable consideration in the Miesian corner and Kiesler’s endless surfaces. It is the consequence of architecture’s lack of medium-specificity, in its constant migration between the drawing, the picture plane, the screen, the tool path, the material, and the assembly.
Thickness is a constructive problem as much as it is a representational one. In our present day standards of construction, thickness has become synonymous with material offset due to the predominance of sheet material, as opposite to stereotomy, in which thickness is derived from subtraction and removal of mass. As such, thickness becomes a tectonic default rather than a techne to be designed. In today’s digital environments, thickness has become mere afterthought. The digital model is infinitely thin. Its default property is a single line or algorithmic curve, and its “thickness” must be added. It appears as an offset, an extrusion, or an enclosed surface. Here we begin to confront the limits of representation with its correspondent properties of material reality.
The project culminates with a two-month exhibition in the SCI-Arc gallery space, featuring new work by Spinagu. The work is spatial (operating within / between / upon the literal walls of the gallery) as well as representational. Coupled with a public discussion, the exhibition expands on the problems of material thickness through the topic of sections, ruins, fragments, constructions, figurations, simultaneity, and representation.
Text description provided by the architects. The site is located in Camberwell, Victoria on a unique L shape block, overlooking a leafy park. The existing architecture is rendered precast at first floor, sitting on external clinker brick planes at its base. Its living areas were originally situated at first floor.
The brief was mostly pragmatic. More space for a large family, better zoning, and importantly to create a better connection to the outdoors but not lose the stunning views of the neighbouring parkland. To resolve this common negotiation, we created a new split level for the living areas and the entry experience was re-routed to this new centre which now served as a connecting element to very clear zoning, Kids, Parents, Guests, Living and outdoors.
The feeling of being in the new space is of standing on-top the fence, in total connection with the park, with the split level allowing a lofty ceiling to accept the leafy aspect. The pavilion concept emerged organically from here. Timber posts form the boundaries of a “pavilion” and support a timber lined canopy overhead. The rhythm of these posts creates a tactility and depth to the edg-es of the space, modulating the hardness of the glass surface. The external clinker brick planes re-appear to bookend the new interior, suggesting that the living areas are an external space. Sim-ple ceramic pendant lights drape down at each post location and a dramatic fireplace reinforce the verticality of both the space and the neighbouring trees.
The space defers to its mid-century roots in its horizontality, honesty in steel connections and braces, natural materials and joinery details. An external venetian blind enlarges the ubiquitous 50’s venetian, and the space is furnished with mid-century but forward looking furniture.
The new living areas have been sited to face north east and north west. Large expanses of glass are utilized take in the natural beauty and allow winter sun to penetrate deep into the space. To bal-ance the large expanses of glass, we used a high performance insulated glazed unit with a low E coating.
Elevations + Section
Large internal walls of face brick have been judiciously placed to allow their thermal mass to ac-cept morning, midday and afternoon sun, and regulate internal temperatures all year around. Sun penetration is regulated with northern eaves and an external venetian that spans the entire length of the main north eastern and north western façades.
All new spaces are naturally cross ventilated, and all natural timber Is native plantation oak. High level clerestory windows are protected from the late western sun by deep fins than mirror the rhythm of glazing and architectural breakup on the existing home. These serve to block hot sun, but also catch the colour of the late afternoon sun to create a warm ambience in the lofty spaces.
Text description provided by the architects. The street store project is located in a residential area in Baoding, Hebei Province of China. The shops with street frontage combined with residential neighborhood is common in the region. In such a city background, the attitude of intervention became start point of design concept.
Influenced by the Xiong An District policy, Baoding, like other fast growing cities in China, have built large quantities of tower residential communities, which contributes to the indifferent look of the city. People tend to hide into these buildings, being protected by iron and concrete, searching for a sense of security psychologically. As a result, interpersonal communication transformed from real life to social media, where ego is extrated from reality and enveloped by a non-homogeneous screen to meet and interact with others under disguise in this virtual world.
Mutual barriers
Depending on the people we meet with, the openness of oneself varies - in some cases the screen of both sides gradually become transparent as the relation grows deeper, making the profile of each other more and more clear, eventually they would enter the inner world of each other. In other cases, however, due to the difficulties in communication or contradictions in purpose, the screens become thicker, the egos are hidden from each other and finally go their seperate ways.
As most of us have to meet with different kinds of people, our screens are in a complicate dynamic process, changing from thick to thin, lucid to opaque, open to close. Endowed with the dimension of everchanging time, the screen between human relationships are like a four-dimension object - and our design is to cut it into slices and deduce the dynamic form of it within three-dimension space.
Space axonometric drawing
First, we created a simple, pure and transpant storefront, extracting the store space from chaotic surroundings. The store is designed as an intergral visual image in resistance of excessive signboards and advertisements of surroundings. At the same time, from carefully placed windows the multi-layer space of inside can be perceived.
I used several materials that varies in transparency and texture in the first floor, such as Ultra-white glass, Colorful glass, ground glass, mirror glass, U-Profile-Glass, glass brick. The glasses are used not only as divisions of space but also section slices of the four-dimension screen to redefine human relationships in the space. people move from one place to another in the space, with their perceptions of others changing among transparency, vagueness and reflection, the whole experience constructs new meaning of the screen. To people inside, it is also exploration of relations with theirselves and others.
1F plan
After the cognition in the first space, people would enter a dim starry tunnel, the changing colour of which implies the character of second floor.
In the end of the tunnel is the second floor with warm colour. Through the porous metal wire and windows on the wall, multiple layers and interfaces of space can be seen, expressing a vague and ambiguous attitude. The surreal playground of second floor consists of a golden track, a prolonged ping-pong table, a vertical basketball court on the wall, a hanging miniature sliding pool and a summer swimming pool filled with bubbles.
It is as if the space is extended, compressed, or becomes unstuck due to the overturn of inherent human perception of scale and gravitation, and the screens between people have also vanished. At this time, people are freed from real and virtual world, entering the ego of each other, after fusion and reation there emerged a new form, eventually, the self awareness of human together with the space, achieved a transcedence to upper dimension.
Text description provided by the architects. Located on a corner lot of a hilly neighborhood in the city of Semarang, Indonesia, the house opens up to its surrounding as much as it embodies a comfortable living spaces in the interior of the house. The house, consisting of grey masses that have wood lined openings, is arranged geometrically based on functions. One mass is the living quarter, one mass is office and garage, and the other is the service quarter.
All these masses surround a void in which an existing mango tree has been growing since tens of years ago. This void then becomes the entry point of the house. The house focuses on creating sequence of experience that brings the focus back to nature through spatial overlapping of indoor rooms and outdoor rooms and presence of light coming through skylight and large openings.
The house has tall and wide recessed openings throughout not only to maximize visual connection to its surrounding but also to let the house breaths by bringing protected light and air into the house. The articulation of the openings allows them to create an uninterrupted and boundless relationship between outside and inside of the house. The house uses contrasted but complementary materials of warm orange wood and cool grey concrete. These materials, kept in their raw conditions, create integrity and honesty to the architecture of the house through their unique natural characteristics.
Text description provided by the architects. The project consists of the renovation of the old painter Pierre Lemaire's studio (1920-2007), in order to create a minimalist loft in the heart of Paris. The entire existing interior design and the slab was demolished, only the load-bearing walls and the roof were preserved. It is originally a large volume in openspace in which the client wants to create a housing necessarily involving the partitioning of spaces. However, neither the client nor the architect are willing to sacrifice the spatial quality of the workshop.
The project consists in revealing the entire volume by the demolition of the ceilings and household many holes in the internal partitions so that at any point of the housing can perceive the entire volume and thus retain the feeling of space. The light floods this beautiful volume with its large glass façade (10 linear meters) and generous roof windows. In order to amplify the sense of space the project presents little variation of color and materials.
White walls highlight the wooden elements (beech) that soften and warm the light. As it is a small area, the custom furniture has been designed to the smallest detail in order to optimize all possible storage spaces while adapting perfectly to the uses. In response to the client who wanted an extra room despite the small area, the architect proposed a very bright cabin perched at the top of the volume with a bird's eye view of the living room. It has a workspace with storage and a fold-away desk and a large bed for two people.
Text description provided by the architects. Natural landscape is the starting point for this spacious, sloped, 4000 sqm plot in a rural setting. The concept maintains the gradual slope of the site. The house is traced on the landscape much like a meandering path - creating a changing dialogue between the house and its surroundings.
The house is in a rural agricultural surrounding. The sloping entrance path and one-story silhouette assimilate the house to its surrounding. The orthogonal geometry of the house is wrapped in a diagonal outer geometry. The spaces between the two geometries create open, yet covered, exterior spaces which are accentuated by wood. The wood coverings create a connection with the natural landscape, while warmly absorbing and diffusing the natural light thus further blurring the distinction between interior and exterior spaces.
The Layout of the house is the shape of letter "Z". The interior of the house is in a constant dialogue with the exterior landscape. The natural slope, on which this single-level house is situated, creates a changing interaction between the interior/exterior at each of its ends. The northern end of the structure floats above the landscape. The southern end of the house digs itself into the ground creating an intimate yard.
Plan
The main wing of the house stretches from east to west. An entire glazed facade faces the sloping garden and the pool. Glass panels slide to one side, extending the living room into the main pergola, creating a continuity for entertaining inside and outside as one expansive space. The pool extends the plane of the southern wing of the house while the land slopes downward. Water from the pool overflows on the far side of the pool to emphasize the tension between what has been built and Nature.
The landscape retaining walls, benches and stairs are all created from exposed concrete. The plasticity of the concrete enables the constructed forms to follow the natural slope of the plot. The landscape design preserves the nature of the site’s natural slope so that the house can both appreciate and enhance the site’s nuances.
Text description provided by the architects. In the southwest of Stowe Gardens, a new girls’ boarding house has been introduced into the setting of one of the pre-eminent examples of the English Landscape Movement. Sheltered at the edge of a long dividing strip of structured woodland known as Pyramid Wood or Rook Spinney defining the edge of the Western Gardens, the area is concealed from the historically constructed grazing land once of English longhorns and rare breeds.
An outskirt of the pleasure gardens, the landscape apron has long been a place for surprise and delight. In the undergrowth, a ruined foundation and base of Vanbrugh’s last work at Stowe is still visible; a 60-foot Egyptian-style pyramid, completed by Gibbs after Vanbrugh’s death and dedicated to his memory.
Since Stowe School’s founding in 1923, there has been incremental development along the fringe of the Western Gardens and inside the linear tree belt. In 1935 R Fielding Dodd added a set of three repeating outlying masters’ residences known as the Home Park Houses. Now sheltered by mature trees from the historic landscape, the Neo-Georgian street is a suburban adjunct to the Arcadian dream.
A snaking path links the Home Park boarding settlement to the main school campus to the north, cranking through woods and over sloping ground to meet a cluster of two-storey houses. The site hugs tightly to the houses and outbuildings, performing as a gateway to the landscape.
The plan is split into two blocks, a low- lying two-storey block with external terrace and main shared facilities. The second is partially sunken into the ground plane over three floors and connected by a bridge over the path running between. Utilising the path, the new accommodation runs alongside the three houses, continuing a loose concatenation of line, materiality and form, enclosing a courtyard as a bridging element to the fourth house.
Floor Plans
The adjacent houses are simple rectangular footprints of earthy brown brick tones and white steel framed windows. The three houses are connected by single storey wings traced by a brick string course and a common eaves level marking tall chimneys and steep pantile roofs .
Path, topography, woodland, and surrounding massing are playfully integrated in response to the setting. Arranged over two blocks linked at high level, the silhouette is refracted into groupings of taller volumes framed by terraces and parapets. The path is enclosed by solid walls of finely detailed brick and sentried by a solemn drum and tower elements, into a small courtyard. Bedrooms at ground are sheltered by the deep set tree belt offering long views across the open landscape.
Datums are taken from adjacent houses – the common eaves level marks a parapet, with a soldier course regulating ground and first floor divisions. From these guides, volumes shift, rise and fall in curtains of brick. Windows are loosely arranged in open plan spaces or aligned behind stacks of accommodation, in crisp white arrangements. A faintly noticed change in brick pointing above the string course rewards closer observers.
The environment and sunshine induced two open facades opposed to two very closed facades.
The black "planes" slid into the wood siding break down the surfaces according to the functions and accentuate the graphic side of the whole. They guide the visitor in his path and in his architectural reading.
The interior is standardized by a solid wood flooring. The spaces are defined by integrated white furniture and personalized by touches of solid wood and black.
In recent years, many ambitious proposals have been brought forward to revitalize and improve the area around the Los Angeles River. The Lower Los Angeles River Revitalization Plan (LLARP), proposed by Perkins + Will Architects in conjunction with various community groups and public institutions, aims to connect residents to the river and improve the environment surrounding it.
Courtesy of KG&A
The proposed plan aims to transform 19 miles of the Lower LA River. The surrounding communities have long suffered from a lack of investment and public space, as well as a polluted environment. The plan aims to solve these issues through improving access to the river, which in turn creates public space and recreational areas for the community. The area around the river becomes an environment for exploration and play, with open spaces, streetscapes and multi-use paths woven together to create a vibrant extension of the public realm.
Courtesy of KG&A
Perkins+Will worked with a number of partners to create the proposal: Tetra Tech; the Working Group, consisting of the LA County and community organizations; the San Gabriel and Lower LA Rivers and Mountains Conservancy; and the LA County Department of Public Works. Concept designs have been developed for three signature open spaces and three signature design templates for infrastructure improvements. These designs aim to transform the river into a healthy, equitable, and sustainable community, as well as identifying opportunities to reduce flood risk.
Courtesy of KG&A
Courtesy of KG&A
The design was developed alongside close collaboration with stakeholder and community groups. Throughout the design process, the project team conducted over 80 community and stakeholder meetings to focus design objectives on the needs of the community it would serve. Site-specific revitalization projects were identified for 155 locations throughout the river corridor, focusing on public open space and community interaction.
Courtesy of KG&A
Martin Leitner, urban design leader at Perkins + Will’s LA office, describes the importance of the project: “The signature projects are probably some of the largest open space opportunities that LA will ever see. Los Angeles is not about mega-projects, it is a city of diverse communities, cultures and moments. We worked with the Working Group, LA County and Tetra Tech to design concepts that serve the communities first."
After designing over a hundred buildings and establishing several schools of architecture, Balkrishna Doshi achieved architecture’s highest accolade: the Pritzker Prize Award. Doshi is the first Indian architect to receive this award. He is known as an architectural advocate for social change and the environment.
Doshi believes his award is not only for himself but for all of India. The 90-year-old architect stood out as a pioneer of social housing design and architectural identity in India. Reflect on his legacy through these 21 images of his work:
Text description provided by the architects. The Nursing School at Dikemark was built in 1966. The building consisted of a low-rise containing the school program and a high-rise comprised of single-room student dormitories. The structure is cast in in-situ concrete, facades are clad in redbrick. Architecturally and tectonically the building was of high quality, and likely to have been an exemplary school of its time. The correlation between the two buildings create a nice forecourt, and the buildings are positioned high and unobstructed in the terrain. The building stood unused for several years and was practically a ruin prior to renovation.
The Nursing School is presently renovated into 43 new apartments and rowhouses of varying size. The entirety of the existing building volume was made use of in the refurbishment. In the shaping of apartments and rowhouses, the existing structures have been made use of to the greatest possible extent, and existing qualities such as; existing spaces, materiality and the use of color in informing our design. The building volumes are principally unaltered apart from a new carpark beneath the forecourt. Where possible, openings have been made in loadbearing walls where it has been viable to facilitate larger continuous units without compromising the integrity of the existing structure. Existing floor slabs are more or less intact, with the exception of the row houses in the low-rise, where openings were made for internal stairs and lightwells, creating double-height spaces beneath skylights.
The buildings advantageous position in the landscape and the views and vistas have been essential in informing the design of the apartments. In all essence, there is a consistent use of glass from floor to ceiling. In addition, all apartments and row houses have spacious private balconies or terraces. The new apartments are visually and constructively informed by the constraints of the existing construction, creating spaces with architectural qualities connecting the present day building to its history. The original construction and facade are visible in the new project where possible: Concrete surfaces, steel constructions, and redbrick facades.
The new façade of the high-rise reflects the rhythm of the original redbrick façade with bands of windows varying in height. A good portion of the internal existing surfaces has been encapsulated on account of modern standards of acoustic, fire and climatic principles. The premises and possibilities of a renovation have given way to new and unexpected architectural qualities and solutions that would not have come into existence based on a rationale of building “from scratch”. The forecourt between the two buildings has been incorporated into the renovation by means of a parking garage below and attractive common areas and playgrounds above. The row houses have private front gardens facing these common areas. Throughout the entirety of the planning and building process, there has been a continuous and close cooperation between entrepreneur, client and architect with the intent of optimizing the balance between economy and quality. This has resulted in a varied and affordable housing of a unique architectural quality.
SYNAPS The Nursing School at Dikemark was built in 1966. Originally consisting of a low-rise containing the school program and a high-rise containing student dormitories. Its present renovation has transformed this former school building into 43 new apartments and rowhouses. The building volumes are principally unaltered apart from a new carpark beneath the forecourt. The new apartments are visually and constructively informed by the constraints of the existing construction, creating spaces with architectural qualities connecting the present day building to its history. The premises and possibilities of a renovation have given way to new and unexpected architectural qualities and solutions that would not have come into existence based on a rationale of building “from scratch”.
© Danae Santibañez
.jpg?1520526832 "Sited between South Africa’s National Parliament and St. George’s Cathedral, the seat of the Archbishop of Cape Town, the Arch frames the public entrance to a landscaped promenade known as the Company’s Garden, which boasts many of the city’s cultural institutions. Image © David Southwood")
.jpg?1520526863 "Cape Town’s iconic Table Mountain provides a natural backdrop to these governmental buildings and cultural institutions. Image © David Southwood")
.jpg?1520526894 "The Arch is formed of 14 strands of Siberian Larch wood, a highly durable and resistant material that will weather gracefully over time, taking on the elements of its surroundings. The warmth of wood was intentionally selected to lend the Arch an intimate, tactile quality, that invites people to interact with the structure in a way that differs from the conventional materials people might expect for a memorial structure, such as concrete, steel, or stone. Image © David Southwood")
.jpg?1520526719 "Courtesy of Design Indaba")
.jpg?1520526730 "Pictured at far right: Archbishop Desmond Tutu at the 2017 Design Indaba Conference, where the design was first unveiled. Image Courtesy of Design Indaba")
_-16__18.11.2017-.jpg?1520509301 "© Fernando Gomulya")
_-16__18.11.2017-.jpg?1520509011 "© Fernando Gomulya")
_-16__18.11.2017-.jpg?1520508513 "© Fernando Gomulya")
_-16__18.11.2017-.jpg?1520508341 "© Fernando Gomulya")
_-16__18.11.2017-.jpg?1520509471 "© Fernando Gomulya")
_-16__18.11.2017-.jpg?1520509353 "© Fernando Gomulya")
_-16__18.11.2017-.jpg?1520508803 "© Fernando Gomulya")
.jpg?1520442656 "Amdavad Ni Gufa . Image © Laurian Ghinitoiu")
