Top 10 Architecture Projects on Architizer in October 2022
CategoriesArchitecture

Top 10 Architecture Projects on Architizer in October 2022

Architects: Want to have your project featured? Showcase your work through Architizer and sign up for our inspirational newsletter. 

Architizer’s journal is fueled by the creative energy of the thousands of architects from around the world who upload and showcase their incredible work. From conceptual designs to projects under construction to completed buildings, we are proud to serve as a platform for showcasing global architectural talent and the brilliance of visualizers, engineers, manufacturers, and photographers who are crucial members of the industry. A stellar drawing, rendering or photo, as well as a detailed project description, can go a long way in making a project stand out, as does indicate the stellar contributors on a project.

Firms who upload to Architizer share their work with professionals and design enthusiasts through our Firm Directory and Projects database. They also gain exposure by having their projects shared on our FacebookInstagram, and Twitter pages, as well as in our Journal feature articles. Indeed, through these various channels, hundreds of thousands of people in the global design community have come to rely on Architizer as their architectural reference and source of inspiration. In 2022, we’re rounding up our database’s top 10 most-viewed, user-uploaded architecture projects at the end of each month.


10. KINTEX 3rd Exhibition Center

By HAEAHN Architecture, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea

With two preexisting exhibition halls on the site, the architects were tasked with creating a harmonious third that would expand the existing buildings’ functions while adding an integrated path to connect all three. An urban concourse is an open concourse in Goyang City while weaving the entire exhibition hall, and it is connected to an outside walking square to become a communication space between the city and citizens. While the architectural precedents exuded a somewhat soft image (the existing buildings were inspired by a flower and a butterfly), overall the complex needed to project its identity as a global business platform.


9. Tiny Home

By Ev.design.office, Deylaman, Iran

Architects everywhere are tasked with building high quality spaces at the lowest possible costs. This is no different for architects in Iran, where micro living spaces aren’t just space-saving solutions in dense cities; they’re increasingly seen as cost-saving measures on large lots. This particular tiny home falls into the latter category. Sited in a forested and mountainous area, the metal-framed villa is raised above the ground so that it stands amongst the surrounding trees. with their trunks and create a sense of suspension in it. So, one column, like the trunks of trees, separate the building from the ground and lift it up.


8. House BPB

By David Bulckaen, Brasschaat, Belgium

Inspired by the movie “A Single Man”, which features a Californian home built by the one and only Lautner, this residential project involved the renovation and extension of an existing house. The resulting design was based on the principle of the viewfinder of a camera — a reference to the professional activity of one of the residents — and in this vain, each room has just one window to look out, as if you were looking through the lens of your camera.


8. Minneapolis Public Service Building

By Henning Larsen, Minneapolis, MN

Minneapolis’s Government District makes a stately architectural statement of civic duty. Yet, the dominant materiality of the historical area is granite: a material that may be associated with strength, but does not exactly emit democratic values openness and unity. This new contemporary alternative asks: “How can our public spaces better reflect the communities they serve?” In response, the design’s soaring glass and aluminum façades and double height pockets break up its massing, announcing themes of transparency and connection that continue inside. In recent year as, public trust in government has slipped; civic buildings can stand as monuments of the ideals that democracies should strive towards: a collective, reflective and pluralistic future.


6. Kujdane

By Shomali Design Studio (Yaser Rashid Shomali & Yasin Rashid Shomali), Gilan Province, Iran

Old becomes new in this distinctive update on this traditional A-frame cabin, located in the woods of northern Iran. One key aspect of this is the split that forms down the center of the the conventional sloping roof, which is filled with luminous glass window instead. Then, the usual sharp-angled corners of the A-frame are softened with curving lines, imbuing the structure with a sense of warmth and playfulness.


5. Top Of The Lake

By Zarysy, Sroda Wielkopolska, Poland

Earth colours, deep greens, deep reds with oak and stone, terrazzo finishes make up the warm and welcoming color palette for this three-person home which boldly blends forest cabin with luxury mid-century vibes. Embracing the family’s passion for pushing the design envelope, the interior is shaped by a composition of intersecting blocks, structures, textiles and colors. This compositional move at once separates the spaces while, at the same time uniting them under the umbrella of a consistent design. Unique spaces abound; one particularly delightful standout is a private tree house inside a child’s room.


4. New Beginnings Inaugural Urban Art Installation

By Alebel Desta Consulting Architects and Engineers, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

This bright, yellow temporary urban installation represented Ethiopian history and culture while reflecting the existing reality morphing into a joyous “New beginning’. Two grand colossal vertical tower components form both a portal and a performance stage on Meskel square. These towers are flanked by numerous diagonal satin strips, varying inclinations, sizes, locations, and linkages that depict diversity. In the face of myriad challenges — climatic, social and economic — Ethiopians’ resilience in tolerating pressure and moving spiritedly forward is reflected in the fabric’s flexibility. More than 300 individuals Architects, engineers, fabric experts, visual artists, carpenters, technicians, metal workers, laborers, and more all formed the 300 person team that made the concept a reality. After three weeks of design and prefabrication of fabric elements, on-site construction was executed in just one week. Recycling, reusing, and upscaling materials after the event was planned from the onset; meanwhile the design was implemented as cost-effective as possible.


3. Bijlmer Bajes

By Barcode Architects, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Bijlmer Bajes was once an Amsterdam prison; now, it is a pleasant, safe and social urban neighbourhood. With a total program of 135.000m², the mixed-use masterplan was sprawling, but the former correctional facilities that stood on part of the site served a disproportionately large role in the overall design. Visually, three key elements — the canal, the main building and the wall — became motifs that guided the architects in designing a cohesive community space with a distinct urban feel.


2. GOOD FOOD, GOOD LIFE

By WY-TO Group, Singapore

Following the C40’s design priorities for the 10 climate challenges, this adaptive reuse project exemplifies a new architectural model of building for circularity and inclusivity. The master plan layers various programmes with the aim of inspiring habit changes in inhabitants, ultimately encouraging a carbon-neutral lifestyle. From urban farming to vertical timber greenery facades, the eco-conscious design provides practical functions, while harnessing construction techniques that won’t add unnecessary environmental stress.


1. Ventana House

By HK Associates Inc, Tucson, AZ

The expressive, geological form of this two-story private home couldn’t be more apt for its setting. Sitting proudly at the foot of the Catalina mountains, the Ventana House straddles a line between the sprawling desert and a protected mountain peak. Yet, the rock metaphor can be extended. As the architects explain, the building is “like a geode,” with a surprisingly elegant, inviting and light-filled interior, the spaces of which are sequenced to move visitors through space cinematically by reorienting them while simultaneously revealing both interior and exterior spaces through the gaping windows.

Architects: Want to have your project featured? Showcase your work through Architizer and sign up for our inspirational newsletter. 



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7 Elegant Pools in the Great Outdoors
CategoriesArchitecture

7 Elegant Pools in the Great Outdoors

Browse the Architizer Jobs Board and apply for architecture and design positions at some of the world’s best firms. Click here to sign up for our Jobs Newsletter. 

As a typology, outdoor pools are not necessarily exceptional. They sprinkle suburbs and cities throughout the world and are a statement of leisure almost as ubiquitous as well-groomed lawns. But in environments outside of the urban fabric of cities, where the absence of human infrastructure leaves us vulnerable to the unpredictability of the environment, pools become something greater: they are an assertion of human comfort, perhaps to remedy environmental extremes such as heat and humidity.

In such places, pools can become an artistic statement when they are freed from the physical constraints of the urban world. The seven designs below demonstrate how outdoor pools can interact with their adjacent home and surrounding landscape, acting as a reflection or as a contrast to that environment.


Desert Palisades

By WOODS + DANGARAN, Palm Springs, CA

10th Annual A+Awards, Jury Winner, Residential – Residential (>3000 sq ft) Interiors

Lightly perched above the floor of the La Quinta Valley, this home adopts a classic desert modernist aesthetic. The home’s exterior cladding of earth-toned plaster and textured concrete masonry puts it in harmony with the similarly brownish desert, but the structure’s simple and elegant rectangular compositions offer a balanced contrast with the valley’s rugged, uneven and hostile character. In similar fashion, the small outdoor pool, sheltered in one of the home’s two courtyards, pairs well in tone with the constant clear-blue sky, but provides instead a refreshing alternative to the arid climate.


Casa Malandra

By TAC, Puerto Escondido, Mexico

Popular Choice Winner, 10th Annual A+Awards, Private House (XS < 1000 sq ft)

This private home in the coastal town of Puerto Escondido uses vernacular materials to create a peaceful resort in line with the local architecture. But the concrete-cast pool which extends beyond the main room is undeniably modernist. It serves as its own micro-climate comfortably shielded by several canopies, both natural and man-made.


Casa Meztitla

By EDAA | Estrategias para el Desarrollo de Arquitectura, Tepoztlán, Mexico

Jury Winner, 2016 A+Awards, Architecture +Water

This rural home in Tepoztlán, Mexico is a tranquil abode flanked by the imposing rock mountains of El Tepozteco. The house brings together monolithic white volumes with vernacular rough stone sections, allowing nature to project itself onto the structure. Meanwhile, a lap pool nearby acts like the house’s miniature desert oasis; it crawls under trees’ dense foliage like an emerald-tinted river breaking through an arid landscape. The pool offers a peaceful place to enjoy the nature that surrounds and blankets over it.


Hale Lana

By Olson Kundig, Hawaii County, HI

Photos by Nic Lehoux

This family retreat overlooking the sea in Hale Lana, Hawaii is a small manicured oasis amid the island’s volcanic rock. The collection of low-lying pavilions are connected by elevated wooden lanais and provide extended generous canopy for outdoor activity. A long rectangular pool imitates the elongated pavilions in their style and simplicity, and like the rest of the resort, exists in explicit contradiction to the natural landscape. On one end, the pool even extends beyond the edge of the volcanic slope. It’s a clear statement that purity of form will not be compromised for to adapt to the topographical reality.


Villa AT

By Saunders Architecture, Kristiansand, Norway

Photos by Bent René Synnevåg and Saunders Architecture

This elegantly curving home overlooking a rocky coast in Kristiansand, Norway seems to echo the waves of the sea below by its free-flowing nature. The new pool that separates these two elements, however, presents a controlled contrast to the choppy water of the sea. It’s a peaceful, safe swimming area framed by weathered wood that satisfies the urge to bathe without the perils of unchecked nature.


XXXL’s House

By Brengues Le Pavec architects, France

Resting near the top of a hill in France, this new house takes advantage of the lot’s sloping angle to experiment with layering; from the house’s overlapping volumes to the stone walls guiding visitors down to it. As such, the house’s top floor acts like a belvedere overlooking the landscape further out. But right underneath it is the true surprise: a large tile-clad pool partly shaded by the diverse flora and from which visitors can continue enjoying the view in their bathing suits.


Meditation Pavilion & Garden

By GMAA – GM Architectes Associés, Geneva, Switzerland

For this new pavilion in Geneva, GMAA – GM Architectes Associés had envisioned a wooden volume gently hovering above a water surface. Their final project achieves this vision with a subtly integrated pool — more closely akin to a pond — that turns into a perfect mirror on windless days. As opposed to the natural ponds on the pavilions’ grounds, this artificial one is kept spotless; a pure and perfect counterpart to the surrounding nature, reflecting and emphasizing the beauty around.

Browse the Architizer Jobs Board and apply for architecture and design positions at some of the world’s best firms. Click here to sign up for our Jobs Newsletter. 

Reference

These Are The World’s Best Architectural Renovation, Repositioning and Restoration Projects
CategoriesArchitecture

These Are The World’s Best Architectural Renovation, Repositioning and Restoration Projects

For its 11th season, Architizer has created a suite of sustainability-focused A+Awards recognizing designers working toward a better future. Start your submission today. 

For many architects, renovation, repositioning and restoration projects are some of the most significant career challenges. Repurposing a structure, particularly one that has fallen into disrepair, can lead to myriad difficulties. Many of us who have undertaken such projects know all too well the ever-lengthening list of problems that become exposed when work commences on any adaptive reuse undertaking. However, what is life without its challenges? 

Despite its recent positioning in the headlines, adaptive reuse and restoration are not only about striving for a more sustainable architectural practice. Adaptive reuse plays a huge role in preserving the history of our communities and the hard work and dedication of our peers. Such projects are complicated and push the skills of architects and designers to the limits forcing us to explore new and old technologies and strategies — thrusting us out of our comfort zones. The results of such devotion to a project, of course, are buildings and environments that are truly unique and wonderful. 

Architizer’s mission is to celebrate the incredible work of architects worldwide. Throughout our annual A+Awards, renovation, restoration, repositioning, and adaptive reuse projects are shown the esteem they deserve by being evaluated side by side with their new build counterparts, and it is these A+Awards winners from our 2022 competition that were judged to be winners by a renowned jury of their peers. Proving that within our community, your project doesn’t need to be 100% new to be extraordinary.  


Shajing Village Hall

By ARCity Office, China

Jury Winner, 10th Annual A+Awards, Institutional-Government & Civic Buildings

Photographs provided by ARCity Office

Abandoned over a decade ago and set for demolition in 2019, the Gangtou Diesel Power Plant, originally built in 1980, had little to no hope of revival. However, when the architects discovered the plant, the impressive building was given a new lease of life. The derelict building has been transformed into a much-needed modern ancestral hall that has become a place to immortalize and celebrate the time-honored history and culture of the community. 


Ciot

By Bando x Seidel Meersseman, Brooklyn, NY, United States

Jury Winner, 10th Annual A+Awards, Commercial-Showrooms

In a former armaments factory on the Brooklyn waterfront, Montreal-based stone supplier Ciot has a new home designed by Bando x Seidel Meersseman. The beautiful slab gallery is unrecognizable from its past life, with a bright and meticulous showroom and gallery gaining an air of drama and sophistication under its mono-chromatic refurbishment.


Biodome Science Museum

By KANVA, Montreal, Canada

Jury Winner & Popular Choice Winner, 10th Annual A+Awards, Museum

Photographs by Marc Cramer

Housed in the former Velodrome constructed for the Montréal 1976 Olympic Games, the Biodome first opened in 1992 and is one of Canada’s most visited museum spaces. KANVA was appointed to take on the momentous task of reviving the structure to bring the building into alignment with other museums and bio facilities being constructed today. By adding additional floors, extracting new voids and rethinking the visitor journey, the Biodome, Planetarium, Insectarium, and Botanical Garden will continue to thrive and educate in an advanced intelligent environment.


CME Center

By Krueck Sexton Partners, Chicago, IL, United States

Jury Winner, 10th Annual A+Awards, Commercial-Commercial Interiors (>25,000 sq ft)

Photographs by Kendall McCaugherty

Located in Chicago’s business district, The CME Center lobby is a renovation project that reimagined an existing commercial lobby that had been in continuous use for the last forty years. The aim was to transform the obsolete lobby in response to the local need for livable urban spaces with authenticity and comfort. The drastic repositioning seeks to attract the next generation of users in a modern, bright, technologically advanced environment designed for work, collaboration and interaction.


Rue de la Gauchetière Loft

By Future Simple Studio, Montreal, Canada

Jury Winner, 10th Annual A+Awards, Apartment

Photographs by Felix Michaud

Using the box within a box scenario, The Rue de la Gauchetière project restores a loft apartment that sits within a 100-year-old heritage building. The design, while inherently industrial, seeks to integrate nature and family living into a space that is decisively urban. At once object and architecture, the glazed wooden bedroom volumes are crafted as a bespoke kit of parts, including everything from ceiling panels and mullions, to flooring and furniture. A tactile material pallet of walnut plywood, brick, warm greys, rough concrete, glass and mirror emphasizes the airiness of the space while greenery adds a contrasting natural dimension.


South 2nd

By Murray Legge Architecture, Austin, TX, United States

Jury Winner, 10th Annual A+Awards, Residential Additions

South 2nd is a surprising addition to an existing single-story American ranch house. The new 900-square-foot building is connected to the current house through an adjacent link and contains home offices on the ground floor and a further bedroom and bathroom suite above.

The home rises above the urban sprawl of the 1960’s American suburb. By building vertically, the structure’s tiny footprint retains the valued outdoor space. The roof is topped with a linear clerestory structure that runs the house’s length, bringing diffused natural light into the upper floors.


Nil Dos House

By Valentí Albareda Studio, Spain

Jury Winner, 9th and 10th Annual A+Awards, Residential Interiors (<3000 sq ft)

Photographs by José Hevia

Beginning its life as a warehouse for a small construction company Nil Dos House was a dark and dingy place. However, the saving grace of the unique home was the under-utilized covered courtyard that, once uncovered, filled the residence with air and light. Embracing the building’s natural materials, the designers retained the unique character of the space with points of interest in every room. Juxtaposed against the traditional warehouse aesthetic is a beautifully crafted interior exquisitely detailed in timber and glass. The seemingly floating platform dissects the space elegantly without blocking any coveted light, which flows unimpeded into the room’s rear to provide a bright and calm primary bedroom.


The Moving Kitchen

By J.C. Architecture, Taiwan

Popular Winner, 10th Annual A+Awards, Transport Interiors

Photographs by Kuo-Min Lee

Bringing life to a seventy-year-old semi-retired train J.C. Architecture has created an exceptional restaurant experience. Salvaging carriages from retirement, three train cars hold a fifty-four-person moving restaurant. Fitted with a full-size kitchen, bar, lounge and dining room, guests to the moving venue can dine in luxury while experiencing the breathtaking mountainous or oceanic sea views determined by which side of the carriage you choose. The Moving Kitchen is a spectacular and successful example of adaptive reuse. 

For its 11th season, Architizer has created a suite of sustainability-focused A+Awards recognizing designers working toward a better future. Start your submission today. 

Reference

6 Soon-To-Be-Built Projects by World-Renowned Architecture Firms
CategoriesArchitecture

6 Soon-To-Be-Built Projects by World-Renowned Architecture Firms

 The winners of Architizer’s 3rd Annual One Rendering Challenge have been revealed! Interested in next year’s program? Subscribe to our newsletter for updates.  

Drawing in architecture takes many forms. Sketching and illustration are excellent tools for idea forming and concept development, while using CAD for spatial planning is fundamental during the design process. Yet, above all others, one branch of architectural methodology has developed rapidly over the last two decades, with swathes of new businesses offering their services springing to life each month. As rendering technology has improved, becoming increasingly user-friendly, cost-effective and efficient, working with 3D modeling software has become a key pillar of standard practice. Furthermore, the art of translating these models into compelling architectural drawings — known as 3D rendering — has not only cemented itself as a core stage in many firms’ design workflow but has also become a standalone industry in its own right.

Indeed, 3D architectural rendering has gone beyond the boundaries of design development and has become a marketing tool for the industry like no other. These details images can tell stories and are used for pitches and proposals to drum up excitement and investment. Once a scale model that took considerable time to make was the only way to represent a site proposal, and a single illustration was the only “sneak peek” of a project. Today we can explore entire proposals, concepts and ideas using walk-throughs and visual representations of every nook and cranny — try before you buy for the modern era.

Here are six exciting projects whose 3D architectural renderings have us excitedly waiting for the real thing.


Abrahamic Family House

By Adjaye Associates, Abu Dhabi, UAE


In the UAE’s picturesque capital, Abrahamic Family House will be a collection of three religious spaces: a mosque, a synagogue and a church, all upon common ground in Abu Dhabi. The development is set to serve as a community for inter-religious dialogue and exchange, emphasizing the value and importance of peaceful co-existence and acceptance among different beliefs, nationalities and cultures. A fourth space — not affiliated with any specific religion — will serve as a community center for all people, offering educational and event-based programming.

The design of the building and the interior intertwine the commonalities of each of the three religions, celebrating their similarities against highlighting their differences. Each of the bold structures features colonnades, screens and vaults to represent the sacred nature of their existence, and they are surrounded by vast meandering gardens bringing life and supporting connection.


Mirvish Village

By Henriquez Partners Architects, Toronto, Canada

Popular Choice, 2019 A+Awards, Unbuilt Multi-Unit Housing (L>10 Floors)

Built on the site of Honest Ed’s, an eclectic discount store that was once a landmark to the people of Toronto, the newly imagined Mirvish Village will be a comprehensive purpose-built community for rental apartments and innovative retail. Mirvish Village will comprise 32 micro buildings and eventually be home to over 2,000 Torontonians. All 800 suites will be rented, with some apartments available below-market rates and almost half designed for families.

The development aims to preserve its community atmosphere by applying mixed precast and brick panel cladding treatments to various tower and mid-rise components. The new structure is set to look like individual buildings that have evolved, giving the feeling of a traditional neighborhood street rather than a mega-development. The project is designed to meet LEED Platinum ND standards, will include a site-wide utility and support sustainable transportation with an extensive bike and car co-op program.


The Forestias

By Foster + Partners, Bangkok, Thailand

Situated on the outskirts of Bangkok, The Forestias is a residential-led masterplan with a substantial forest at its heart. The pioneering development aims to become an example and a template for future urban living in Thailand and globally. Lush greenery dissects the urban development that hosts a variety of housing types. The development creates shared facilities that encourage community interaction by visually reducing boundary walls and hedges.

High-rise condominium buildings are designed to suit families perfectly alongside low-rise condominiums that bring residents close to the surrounding nature. Cluster-home residences are included for extended, multi-generational families wishing to live close together in multiple homes that are easily connected. Additionally, as a way of futureproofing generational changes, the design includes a residential offering that has been developed to suit the needs of older residents with lifetime care services.


Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library

By JLG Architects and Snøhetta, Medora, ND, United States

A challenge was set for the design of the much-anticipated Library of the 26th President of the United States: “Build an awe-inspiring, architecturally significant destination that works with, not against, nature.” Of all the competitors, JLG was chosen to work hand-in-hand with Snøhetta to develop a destination that strives to continue the legacy of Roosevelt and his pursuit and creation of conservation ideas that have shaped the country.

The Library utilizes the sweeping views of the Little Missouri River, Elkhorn Ranch, and Theodore Roosevelt National Park, delicately carving out modern, sustainable architecture in the Badlands and riverbanks. The project aims to protect and nourish the land on which it will be built while encouraging education and conservation for many years.


New North Zealand Hospital

By Vilhelm Lauritzen Architects and Herzog & de Meuron, Hillerød, Denmark

The New Hospital in North Zealand, Hillerød, has been planned to be the central hospital resource for more than 310,000 citizens in the northern part of the Capital Region of Denmark. The hospital merges three existing hospitals: Hillerød Hospital, Elsinore Hospital and Frederikssund Hospital. Focusing on questioning how we facilitate healthcare, Herzog & de Meuron and Vilhelm Lauritzen Architects’ design ambition is to redefine how we perceive a hospital and how we design and construct them.

With a budget of 600 million euros, the teams will challenge the traditional hospital design that, in many places, has recently been seen to make healthy patients increasingly unwell, weakening them physically and emotionally rather than improving their condition. The new mega-hospital will break the boundary between illness and health by providing care and focus on well-being as opposed to mere treatment.


Green Villa

By MVRDV and Van Boven Architecten, Sint-Michielsgestel, Netherlands

Located on the southern edge of the Dutch village of Sint-Michielsgestel, the four-story Green Villa by MVRDV and Van Boven Architecten is a unique and exciting proposal that explores the potential of ‘façade-less’ buildings and ‘radical greening.’ The inner and outer skin is made up of a “rack” of shelves, varying in depth, that hosts an abundance of potted plants, bushes, and trees such as forsythias, jasmine, pine, and birch, all labeled and cataloged. The forward-thinking approach stems from MVRDV’s belief that sustainability implies a technological challenge and a positive change in lifestyle, where urban areas should be considered a part of the natural landscape. The flexible mixed-use development will be home to adaptable residential and commercial spaces.

 The winners of Architizer’s 3rd Annual One Rendering Challenge have been revealed! Interested in next year’s program? Subscribe to our newsletter for updates.  

Reference

Architectural Drawings: Residential Fireplaces in Plan
CategoriesArchitecture

Architectural Drawings: Residential Fireplaces in Plan

The Fourth Annual One Drawing Challenge is open for entries! Architecture’s most popular drawing competition is back and bigger than ever, including larger prizes. Get started on your submission.  

Architecture is designed to bring people together. In residential projects, warmth and comfort define life’s daily rhythms and how we gather. In turn, fireplaces have long been a central focus of architecture, drawing people close while setting the atmosphere. Frank Lloyd Wright famously expressed that “the hearth is the psychological center of the home.” Fireplaces are unique in that they are both functional and aesthetic, with very specific demands for detailing and safety. Whether gas or wood burning, historically, they have long been used to heat the home and provide light.

As a central defining element of residential projects, fireplaces take on a hierarchy in floor plan drawings. Often they anchor the interiors of a home while other decors, furniture or art are designed around them. Both indoors and outdoors alike, careful consideration is given to whether the fireplace needs to be functional or simply to provide a design aesthetic to a space. Today, manufacturers and architects are exploring new designs that provide exciting alternatives to traditional models. Drawing from the Architizer database, we’ve rounded up a collection of fireplaces and the corresponding floor plans to showcase how they are being designed around the world.


Grove House

By Roger Ferris + Partners, Bridgehampton, NY, United States

Jury Winner, 2018 A+Awards, Private House (XL>5000 sq ft)

This private Hamptons residence was designed as an immersive retreat. Situated along a natural ravine and protected wetlands, the residence consists of three simple gable-shaped volumes, creating a dialogue between the natural grasslands and the built environment. A contemporary interpretation of a common New England building form, each volume is shrouded in horizontal wood slats which seamlessly wrap all wall and roof surfaces. A public great room is centrally located, acting as a social hub for family and guest interaction. Within the great room, special attention was taken to the design of the architectural concrete fireplace, countertops and black steel sash windows.


Ridge House

By Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, Bonnyville, Canada

This retreat was conceived as a place for gathering family and friends as well as solitude. Located along the crest of a narrow ridge overlooking a broad valley, the drive that connects to the home turns to reveal a long, linear core of sawn stone that parallels the ridge, sliding under a single-slope roof through a steel-framed glass volume. The stone core, marked by two large fireplace masses, organizes the spaces, with primary circulation along its south face, while gaps in the stone provide access to each of the living spaces. In turn, clear and translucent glass along the south wall creates a play of light and shadow at the circulation spine.


Tofino Beach House

By Olson Kundig, Tofino, Canada

Designed as a beach house within the forest, this home creates a connection between the drama of the nearby ocean and the sense of sanctuary provided by the trees. Composed primarily of one large room, the house is light-filled on the south side facing the ocean, while remaining insular and protected on the other side. Glass walls open the living area to panoramic views of forest and ocean with two fireplaces on either end anchor that the space and provide a feeling of refuge. Artworks were incorporated into the design of the home, with the fireplace walls specially designed to fit paintings by Sam Francis and Diego Singh.


Nevis Pool and Garden Pavilion House

By Robert M. Gurney, Architect, Bethesda, MD, United States

This suburban pavilion is located adjacent to woodlands. A contemporary house surrounded by mature trees and manicured gardens anchors the site. A new swimming pool, stone walls and terraces located behind the existing house organize the rear yard and establishes a dialogue between the existing house and a new pavilion. New paths, trees and structured plantings reinforce the geometry. The new pavilion, intended for year round use, is strategically located to provide a threshold between the structured landscape and adjacent woodland. The doors pivot to open the space much of the year while a large Rumford fireplace and heated floors provide a cozy counterpoint in winter months.


Courtyard House on a River

By Robert Hutchison Architecture, Greenwater, WA, United States

This small residence is sited on the banks of the White River five miles from Mt. Rainier. The project was designed to quietly blend into the surrounding forest. An entry courtyard serves as a transition space from outdoors to indoors and keeps the ubiquitous elk herds at bay. A steel-clad fireplace mass separates the living room from a covered outdoor patio. By working diligently with the client (who also served as General Contractor for the project), the building footprint was kept as compact as possible to minimize site disturbance. The residence was made to epitomize the small home living movement.


Pit House

By Bloot Architecture, The Hague, Netherlands

The heart of a dilapidated brick corner house from 1929 was completely renovated and extended, incorporating an inviting sitting pit. The clients asked for more space, an open kitchen and a more direct relationship to the garden. The sitting pit forms a playful space around the fireplace, where the owners are able to stay together with each other, friends and family. Seen at eye level from the seating pit, there is a vertically sliding window on the street side. By sliding this open as well as the large sliding doors at the rear, visitors find themselves outside in a sitting pit, at a fireplace and under a roof. The fireplace sits in a solid block that, together with a thick wall on the other side and a wall parallel to the seating pit, supports the roof.


Cabin at Norderhov

By AtelierOslo, Hønefoss, Norway

This residential cabin project is located in Krokskogen forests, outside the town of Hønefoss. The site is very exposed to the wind and the cabin is shaped to create several outdoors spaces that provide shelter from the wind and sun at different times of day. The interior is a continuous space finished in a thin layer of curved birch plywood. The fireplace is located at the center of the cabin. The fireplace mantel is hanging from the ceiling, while the fire is down at the floor of the access level. This provides the feeling of a campfire in the landscape that can be seen from different places.

The Fourth Annual One Drawing Challenge is open for entries! Architecture’s most popular drawing competition is back and bigger than ever, including larger prizes. Get started on your submission.  

Reference

Tiny Timber: 6 Small-Scale Retail Designs With Beautiful Wooden Interiors
CategoriesArchitecture

Tiny Timber: 6 Small-Scale Retail Designs With Beautiful Wooden Interiors

How can architecture be a force for good in our ever-changing world? During Future Fest, we’re pose this question to some of the world’s best architects. We’re hosting daily virtual talks from September 12th to 30th, which are 100% free to attend.  Check out the full schedule!

Shops can provide impressive shopping experiences even with limited floor areas. Instead of using shiny and luxurious materials that crowd the space, wood can easily bring intimacy and coziness to compact spaces. This collection includes six examples of retail designs that smartly employ wood in small store spaces. They demonstrate the possibility of timber-clad interiors, revealing how wood can evoke a range of atmospheres from quiet calmness to bright warmth to intimate mystery and more.


Mi Pan

By Concentrico, Mexico City, Mexico

Popular Choice Winner, 10th Annual A+Awards, Retail

mi pan_interior_1mi pan_interior_2The bakery Mi Pan celebrates bakers’ hard work in making delicious bread. Metal trays reoccur on the shelves, wall cladding and ceiling decorations. These are the same type of tray used for bread production, reminding people of the heart of Mi Pan – the kitchen.

Instead of regular shelves, the design team uses trays and timber frames to hold freshly-baked bread. The trays emphasize the fact that the bread comes straight out of the kitchen as they are ready. Timber frames extend onto the walls and ceiling, breaking the boxy space into rhythmic fragments. The trays that hang from the ceiling hide cables from customers’ sight while making the bakery cozier by lowering the space.


Haregino Marusho

By Tsutsumi And Associates, Yokohama, Japan

haregino marusho_interior_1haregino marusho_interior_3The design team refurbished the floor of the wedding Kimono in the traditional Japanese clothing shop Haregino Marusho and themed it with wood. Many spatial components, including display shelves, partitions and the ceiling, are in warm-color wood of similarly soft patterns. The space becomes an elegant wooden display box that does not take any spotlight from the kimono fabrics.

The ceiling panels are cut strategically to create a layering effect that resembles the Kasane (layering) of the Kimono. They also bring subtle changes in the ceiling height, making the monochromatic space more interesting to wander through.


Blackhills Cafe

By Mora + Suksumek, Lat Phrao, Bangkok, Thailand

blackhills cafe_interior_1blackhills cafe_frontIn the coffee bar Blackhill, smooth wooden surfaces are put in conjunction with rough concrete surfaces. They together create a zen space for enjoying a moment away from the busy central Bangkok. In contrast to the colorful urban environment outside, the materials used in the coffee shop are limited to only wood and concrete. The simplicity of the design makes it almost a meditative space.

The coffee shop has a large, glazed front that welcomes late afternoon sunlight into the shop. Natural light gets through the open-plan interior. A few seats are available by the window and by the counter. Sunset, the visual and smelling experience of coffee-making are presented all at once.


Tsubomi House (Tokyo Bud House)

By FLAT HOUSE, Tokyo, Japan

This small house has a footprint of only 280 square feet, yet it accommodates a biscuit shop and the shop owner’s family. Tsubomi House has seven different levels with no solid partitions between them. Each level is half a story higher/lower than the next one. Without walls separating each functional area, residents can move quickly from one space to another.

The interior finishing is largely in plywood which produces a gentle reflection of light. Natural light, therefore, comes in through openings on different levels and travels in the whole space. Paired with ivory steel, the light-color plywood makes the compact interior bright and continuous.


Sandra Weil Store

By Zeller & Moye, Mexico City, Mexico

sandra weil_interiorsandra weil_detailInstead of presenting the garments all at once, Sandra Weil Store’s design gradually reveals the collections as customers walk around. Floor-to-ceiling slats made of local tropical wood stand in line with equal intervals between them. They form rhythmic partitions that are visually permeable only from certain angles. This allows a comfortable level of privacy in the shop without cutting the small store space into tiny fragments.

Garments hide between the slats, not showing themselves fully until the customer is in front of them. Meanwhile, the light and view change as well from one rack to another. The shopping experience in Sandra Weil is all about exploration.


RE x SUGAR

By CHINA ONDO Studio, Nanjing, China

re sugar_frontre sugar_interiorThis community bakery uses large areas of warm-color timber to create a relaxing atmosphere. Like Blackhills Café, RE x SUGAR also has a transparent shop front that embraces the sunlight. A large folding window connects indoors and outdoors while the window sills become seats.

Woods of different textures create a harmonic yet interesting space. Some wooden surfaces are smooth, for example, the front door, walls, window frames and chairs. Cupboards, the display area of bread and the floor around it are covered in rather rough and pattern-intensive wood.

How can architecture be a force for good in our ever-changing world? During Future Fest, we’re pose this question to some of the world’s best architects. We’re hosting daily virtual talks from September 12th to 30th, which are 100% free to attend.  Check out the full schedule!

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The Timber Revolution: New Programs Beyond the Skyscraper
CategoriesArchitecture

The Timber Revolution: New Programs Beyond the Skyscraper

How can architecture be a force for good in our ever-changing world? During Future Fest, we’ll pose this question to some of the world’s best architects. Launching in September, our three-week-long virtual event will be 100% free to attend. Register here!

Timber architecture is having its moment. In this material revolution towards more sustainable modes of construction, the poster child has been timber skyscrapers and high-rises. But timber is being reimagined across a range of building programs, from private homes and residential housing projects to infrastructure and cultural facilities. (We’ve already flagged a trend towards intricate wooden joinery!) These additional programs illustrate a move towards material choices that are warm and inviting, more sustainable, and that foster new ways to think about architecture and design.

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As Think Wood shared in their 2022 report, teams are considering timber to lower a building’s carbon footprint. AEC companies are looking to timber because it is less carbon-intensive than other structural materials. It also has applications everywhere from prefab buildings to modular construction and hybrid techniques. The following projects showcase timber with both vernacular building techniques and modern tectonic expressions. While they are not tied to specific locales or regions, they share common investigations into enclosure, cladding, structure and more.


Bjergsted Financial Park

By Helen & Hard, Stavanger, Norway

For the Bjergsted Financial Park in Stavanger, Sparebank 1 SR-Bank wanted a place where the company could realize its visions and offer the best for the surroundings. This seven-floor high building is an example of a future workplace and is one of Europe’s largest office buildings in timber. The volume varies in height to accommodate the varied scales and character of the surrounding buildings. There is a central atrium which brings in light, air and green qualities into the building. Social areas and meeting rooms are organized around this space and act as a buffer towards the quieter workplaces along the façades of the building. The galleries are connected by a spectacular open stair. There is a strong contrast between the sharp, triangulated exterior of glass and metal, against the interior organic design in timber.


Aspen Art Museum

By Shigeru Ban Architects, Aspen, CO, United States

The New Aspen Art Museum is located in the center of the high mountain town of Aspen Colorado on a prominent downtown corner site. The three story kunsthalle provides galleries on the first two floors above ground level and on one floor below. The third floor is a multi-function space and café. Half of the third area is given over to an outdoor terrace with views up to the mountains. Design features include an innovative long-span timber space-frame roof structure, woven panel façade, structural glass floors for gallery day-lighting, outdoor gallery stair which connects the site plaza to the third floor roof level and glass elevator.


Canary Wharf Crossrail

By Foster + Partners, London, United Kingdom

This mixed-use scheme was designed to encompass the over-ground elements of a new station for the Crossrail project at Canary Wharf. At the heart of the project was a new enclosure unifying the station and other elements including new retail units and a park. The park and the rest of the building is enclosed by a distinctive roof, which wraps around the building like a protective shell. This 300 meter-long (328 yard) timber lattice roof opens in the centre to draw in light and rain for natural irrigation. Timber was an appropriate material to enclose the park: it is organic in nature and appearance, strong, adaptable and is sustainably sourced. Despite the smooth curve of the enclosure, there are only four curved timber beams in the whole structure.


Timber Dentistry

By Kohki Hiranuma Architect & Associates, Minoo, Japan

Looking to introduce warmth and light into this unique site, this home was built on the location of the former Housing Expo from ninety years ago. Orientation and shape of the surrounding residential area influenced the silhouette of the structure’s west elevation. A gable roof blends into the neighborhood and draws an arc towards the west side, showing a hint of modernism. To give a warm impression to the exterior facade, natural wood materials were used, where walls stand as a white canvas that complements cherry blossoms in season. The timber structure is enhanced by the transparency of glass, which draws attention from the eye-level pedestrian on the first floor.


Aula K. Timber Modular Classroom

By BCQ arquitectura, Barcelona, CT, Spain

Created to be a modular classroom, this timber design includes the construction of a prototype module for environmental education, a learning and discovery space to be installed in different locations of the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona park’s network. It is proposed that it becomes also the habitat for some species of animals such as insects, invertebrates, birds, bats… As the team explained, it must be a space open to the outside; it is necessary that one could see the trees from the classroom, to perceive the light and feel the climate. The building was planned as a prefabricated module, flexible and as economical as possible, capable of responding to the different requirements of each municipality for environmental education.


Timber Rhyme

By Studio Ardete, Chandigarh, India

As the design team explored in Timber Rhyme, wood-art has been an integral part of Indian history. Sutradhar community, according to legend, are the carpenters (also known as ‘badhaee’) descended from Maya, the son of Vishwakarma (the divine engineer). This design explored conventional limitations of the material sold by the client, veneers and plywood, and its protagonist role in a conversation that has existed in the ancient past. ‘Timber Rhyme’ occupies the first story of a retail shop in a market complex, Chandigarh. The challenge was to invite a walk through the existing 71′ by 18′ linear block. A timber ribbon invites passerby into the space and to engage with the materials.


Archery Hall and Boxing Club

By FT Architects, Chandigarh, India

When considering the design expression for a new archery hall and boxing club, FT Architects created a pair of buildings a few hundred meters apart on the grounds of Kogakuin University in west Tokyo. The University’s brief was for low-cost structures made of locally sourced timber to provide accessible and inspiring spaces for the students. By chance, both facilities called for a column-free space scaled to a size comparable to a sacred hall in a traditional Japanese temple.

In order to achieve this span, without columns and using low-cost methods of timber construction, it was necessary to come up with an innovative timber solution. Small timber sections, normally reserved for furniture making, were chosen for the archery hall and timber members deemed defected because of insect damage for the boxing club.


Timber Bridge in Gulou

By LUO studio, Jiangmen, China

Jury Winner, 10th Annual A+Awards, Architecture +Wood

Due to the unique tidal flat landform, Gulou in Jiangmen City established the tradition of making use of the water system to dig ponds and form mounds for fishing and farming. As the water system and fish ponds occupy a large area and form a fragmented spatial pattern in local villages, many bridges have been built to connect the areas segmented by water. This project is a timber bridge, which is one of the many in Gulou Waterfront Resort. To differentiate it from urban constructions and revitalize traditional rural culture, LUO studio adopted natural wooden materials to construct an arched bridge.

How can architecture be a force for good in our ever-changing world? During Future Fest, we’ll pose this question to some of the world’s best architects. Launching in September, our three-week-long virtual event will be 100% free to attend. Register here!

Reference

Healing Green: Architects Are Breaking Down a Long Tradition of Sterile Healthcare Design
CategoriesArchitecture

Healing Green: Architects Are Breaking Down a Long Tradition of Sterile Healthcare Design

Architects: Want to have your project featured? Showcase your work through Architizer and sign up for our inspirational newsletter. 

That nature can help cure people both physically and mentally is not a new concept. Architects are using greenery to help combat the sterility of modern healthcare facilities, yet it is not usually not easy to achieve the ideal result. Explore different approaches to ‘green healthcare’ with the following six projects of different sites and sizes.


Steno Diabetes Center Copenhagen

By Vilhelm Lauritzen Architects and MIKKELSEN Architects, Herlev, Denmark

Popular Choice, 10th Annual A+Awards, Hospitals & Healthcare Centers

SDCC_aerial viewSDCC_interiorSteno Diabetes Center Copenhagen is a hospital for preventing and treating diabetes. The hospital occupies a rectangular site with two entrances open on two opposite sides. There are four inner gardens on the first floor and two of them greet the visitors immediately upon their entry. Common areas such as circulation spaces and reception sit in the middle of the floor plan, while most individual rooms are lined on the outer ring.

The same layout continues to the second floor, replacing covered common areas with a continuous roof garden. Both vegetation and warm-color, wooden interior aim to build up a calming atmosphere for all visitors. Outside the rooms, a thin layer of vegetation shelters the rather private rooms from public view.


Maggie’s Leeds

By Heatherwick Studio, Leeds, United Kingdom

Jury Winner and Popular Choice, 9th Annual A+Awards, Hospitals & Healthcare Centers

maggies leeds_exteriormaggies leeds_interiorMaggie’s centers provide free cancer support and information to patients and their friends and families. The centers are located across the UK, each in a unique style while all of them embrace nature as a way of healing. Maggie’s Leeds stands on the last patch of greenery at St James’s University Hospital. The sloping site is bounded by roads and a multi-story car park. Instead of flattening the landscape, the spaces descend along the landscape, creating views that vary from open to secluded.

Three tree-like structures articulate the common areas under their crowns and include the counseling rooms within the trunk. Plants are visible everywhere – on top of the roofs, around the buildings and inside the buildings. The building demonstrates the idea of shelter in a natural form.


Waldkliniken Eisenberg

By Matteo Thun & Partners, Germany

Popular Choice, 9th Annual A+Awards, Architecture + Health

This new hospital wing of the orthopedic center Waldkliniken Eisenberg enjoys an immersive view of the Thuringian Forest. The six-story building has 128 patient rooms, all located on the outer ring of the circular floor plans. Floor-to-ceiling windows invite unblocked views of the natural landscape into the rooms while providing natural light and fresh air to the rooms.

Common areas such as the lobby and the cafeteria for patients are in the middle of the floor plans, framed by the wards. Inner gardens are carefully cultivated so that the common areas are also visually connected to pleasing greenery. The interior is finished largely in warm-color timber and lighted up by colorful fabrics. Rich textures and colors create a cozy and cheerful atmosphere for the patients.


Expansion of Santa Fe de Bogotá Foundation

By EL EQUIPO MAZZANTI, Bogota, Colombia

Popular Choice, 8th Annual A+Awards, Health Care & Wellness

Expansion of Santa Fe de Bogotá Foundation_exteriorExpansion of Santa Fe de Bogotá Foundation_solariumThe expansion of Santa Fe de Bogotá Foundation is sited in the compact urban context of the city of Bogotá. It comprises an eleven-story block and a single-story base. The roof of the base becomes a plaza opening to the roads, with staircases inviting people onto it. Red bricks cover the expansion as a response to the existing buildings around. Strips of pavement on the plaza are replaced by plants. Different types of plants vary in height, breaking the flatness and solidity of the brick plaza.

Bricks are held by metal cables and form an airy net over the tall block. Light penetrates the breeze-wall façade during the day, nurturing the plants in the solarium on the ninth floor. Patients can feel connected to the outside world in the solarium while remaining sheltered and protected.


Maggie’s Gartnavel

By OMA, Glasgow, United Kingdom

maggies glasgow_aerialmaggies_2011_Charlie KoolhaasMaggie’s Gartnavel sits humbly on the land of the Gartnavel hospital in Glasgow, close to the Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre. The single-level volume comprises a series of interlocking rooms, with an inner garden in the middle of the ring of rooms. With a flat roof and floor levels that respond to the natural topography, the rooms vary in height. Common areas including the dining room, kitchen, library and a large activity room are on the side with taller ceilings and the counseling rooms are more intimate.

Although the rooms are of different levels of privacy, there are hardly continuous walls that enclose a room. Most spaces have at least one side open or transparent. As a result, the spaces are separated by functions yet visually continuous. Meanwhile, views of the gardens enter the spaces freely through the transparent façades.


SDC

By Takeru Shoji Architects.Co.,Ltd., Niigata, Japan

SDC_exteriorSDC_interiorNeighboring a nursery, elementary school and junior high school, this dental clinic is designed as an enjoyable place for both children and parents. This two-story timber building accommodates not only a clinic but also a bookstore and daycare center. By combining programs, the design team wishes to encourage people to come not just for their appointment.

A long garden surrounds the building. The view of the garden passes through the sheltered corridors and enters the interior spaces. The garden is a buffer between the clinic and the roads as well as a showcase for changing weather and seasons.

Architects: Want to have your project featured? Showcase your work through Architizer and sign up for our inspirational newsletter. 

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Reader’s Choice: Top 10 Architecture Projects on Architizer in August 2022
CategoriesArchitecture

Reader’s Choice: Top 10 Architecture Projects on Architizer in August 2022

Architects: Want to have your project featured? Showcase your work through Architizer and sign up for our inspirational newsletter. 

Architizer’s journal is fueled by the creative energy of the thousands of architects from around the world who upload and showcase their incredible work. From conceptual designs to projects under construction to completed buildings, we are proud to serve as a platform for showcasing global architectural talent and the brilliance of visualizers, engineers, manufacturers, and photographers who are crucial members of the industry. A stellar drawing, rendering or photo, as well as a detailed project description, can go a long way in making a project stand out, as does indicate the stellar contributors on a project.

Firms who upload to Architizer share their work with professionals and design enthusiasts through our Firm Directory and Projects database. They also gain exposure by having their projects shared on our FacebookInstagram, and Twitter pages, as well as in our Journal feature articles. Indeed, through these various channels, hundreds of thousands of people in the global design community have come to rely on Architizer as their architectural reference and source of inspiration. In 2022, we’re rounding up our database’s top 10 most-viewed, user-uploaded architecture projects at the end of each month.


10. Monarch Village 

By Studio 804 in Lawrence, KS, United States

At the University of Kansas School of Architecture, graduate students have the option to enroll in Studio 804, which recently received a donation of a dozen shipping containers. The students worked to convert this gift into tiny homes for families who needed isolate during the pandemic. (The alternative was congregate housing.) Three solar collectors were placed on top of each unit to provide some electricity for inhabitants on the four beds inside.


9. THE EARTH | Pazhou Poly Sport Park Service Center

By TEAM_BLDG in Guangzhou, China

This project joins a growing movement towards architecture that blends in rather than standing out by acting as an extension of the existing landscape. Following the natural movement of the site, this design responds to crowds moving by through and around the building by raising up the green space of the original landscape and incising it with terrazzo paths.


8. Fort 137

By Daniel Joseph Chenin in Las Vegas, NV, United States

Jury Winner, 10th Annual A+Awards, Private House (XL > 6000 sq ft)
Popular Choice, 10th Annual A+Awards, Residential Interiors (>3000 sq ft)

Perched on the most remote edge of the Las Vegas Valley, this scheme aims to immerse the client in the isolated landscape while maximizing unobstructed views of the surrounding desert and canyons. Like a stronghold in the desert, the site also inspired the design and materiality, which pays homage to the historic forts, hand forged from site-sourced materials, that dotted the fringes of the Southwest frontier.


7. Stanford Residence

By Jensen Architects in Stanford, CA, United States

Popular Choice, 10th Annual A+Awards, Residential Additions

Reworking and remodeling this 1960’s house also involved integrating a new and unconventional workshop for the owner, a university professor. Yet, as the architects explain, “inherent in [the] work was a questioning of the suburban vernacular,” which manifested as a raw and tough space that is ready for anything. While an angled industrial frame, wrapped in wood and glass, offers a clever reply to local pitched-roof mandates, the connecting breezeway emphasizes a parti about flow, both creative and spatial.


6. Casa Pattaya

By makeAscene in Pattaya City, Thailand

On one aspect the house seeks to express the laid-back nature of the seaside town; yet, because the surroundings are quite cramped, the architect had to carefully study the massing placement. This resulted in a sort of inside-out house, with an arrival courtyard penetrating to the central living deck that creates an in-between area that is convertible to be either indoor or outdoor living area.


5. Villa LP 

By Nghia-Architect in Ba Vì, Hanoi, Vietnam

This house is home to family members across generations, meaning that it requires spaces that accomodate differences in family members’ lifestyles, ages and personal needs. While the grandparents are used to the traditional Vietnamese lifestyle, the married couple and their children are familiar with the modern way of living in foreign countries. Faced with designing a massive structure, the architects needed to find a way to ensure that it blended in well with its surroundings.


4. HARMAY OōEli

By AIM Architecture in Hangzhou, China

Set on the second floor of a building in a mixed-use office park designed by Renzo Piano Building Workshop in 2020, this store is inspired by its immediate surroundings. The space with floor to ceiling high curtain wall windows and an enclosed center core is the perfect platform to explore a place closely related to our day-to-day environment, the office. Representing a 70’s romanticized image of what an office life looks like, consumers experience this illusion of time wandering between the past and present. Working with bright color tones, soft carpets, and different textures creates a mood of future positivism.


3. “Muranow” Cinema

By Piotr Hardecki Architekt in Warsaw, Poland

The cinema is located in the area of a former Jewish quarter destroyed by the Nazis during the WWII. In the aftermath, the area was rebuilt using rubble from the former buildings. The designer of the cinema, the excellent pre-war architect Bohdan Lachert, faced a choice: either to design in the socialist realist style or not to design at all. It was only decades later that his ideas were appreciated. Seventy years later, these stories from the past had a strong influence on Piotr Hardecki Architekt’s refurbishment project.


2. CAP Riells i Viabrea

By Comas-Pont arquitectes in Riells i Viabrea, Spain

A Primary Care Center (CAP) is an ideal public facility to consider the health of people from the construction itself, minimizing the generation of CO2 in the life cycle of materials and ensuring a healthy environment in the interior. This project introduces the surrounding landscape inside the building through a linear courtyard related to the waiting rooms. The use of the structure with microlaminated wood (CLT) for the first time in a CAP in Catalonia, generates a conceptual dialogue with the forests of Montseny (biosphere reserve) visible from the building, reduces the execution deadlines and waste and allows to achieve the highest energy rating A.


1. Fincas Blanco Real Estate Office

By Sincro in Cornellà de Llobregat, Spain

The complete redesign of the corporate image of the 15-year-old offices of a real estate company in Barcelona. The interior has been designed in a Nordic style, expressed through the use of wood that brings warmth, along with the minimalism of white. The structures made with wooden slats also function as spatial divides that simultaneously imbue the space with character and personality.

Architects: Want to have your project featured? Showcase your work through Architizer and sign up for our inspirational newsletter. 



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Naturally Illuminated: 6 Inventive Architectural Designs Starring Skylights
CategoriesArchitecture

Naturally Illuminated: 6 Inventive Architectural Designs Starring Skylights

Architects: Want to have your project featured? Showcase your work through Architizer and sign up for our inspirational newsletter. 

Skylights should be at the top of any architect’s list as an easy solution to make buildings more energy efficient. They can considerably reduce lighting energy (up to 80% in some buildings, according to the US Department of Energy) and with advances in insulating glass, the thermal performance of skylights has never been greater.

But beyond the clear functional advantages, skylights also open wide possibilities for architectural creativity. A skylight offers new opportunities for indoor spaces to interact with sunlight; these can be as simple as subtly incorporating one within an existing interior or as grand as arranging a building’s layout to maximize the natural lighting. Though allowing (often direct) sunlight to enter a building poses its own challenges, architects are devising original solutions to mitigate the inconveniences with skylights in unique shapes, configurations and patterns. The six projects below are shining examples of how skylights can be used to address the architectural, natural and artistic demands of buildings and their clients.


Pattern House

By MM++ Architects / MIMYA, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

This modernist construction in Ho Chi Minh combats the perception that shophouse-style buildings suffer from a lack of natural light because of the inherent narrowness of their lot. The designers do so with a textured combination of cement breeze blocks and brick patterned walls, letting sunlight gently diffuse inside. Bamboo trees, meanwhile, create their own natural screen to filter the direct sunlight coming through the street-facing windows.

The crowning features are the two large skylights which illuminate the space in different fashions; one large, conventional skylight overlooking the central staircase; and a smaller circular skylight, providing an abstract yellow glow (akin to a halo) to the small space underneath.


Merricks House

By Robson Rak Architects, Merricks North, Australia

The family commissioning this rural home near Melbourne wanted to ensure plenty of natural light within the living space, but without the harsh direct northern and western sun. To resolve this issue, Robson Rak Architects designed large eaves to shade thin long high-level windows around the house, creating an evenly glowing living room and dining room. In similar fashion, the architects added two wall-like beams underneath the kitchen’s skylight, parsing out the strong sunlight into milder segments.


Milk Carton House

By TENHACHI ARCHITECT & INTERIOR DESIGN, Tokyo, Japan

Photos by Akihide Mishima

Located on a narrow lot in central Tokyo, this ‘milk carton’ shaped house uses a modest skylight to flood the first and second floors with sunlight. The skylight pairs well with the house’s open concept, letting the light emanate freely and leaving no corner in the dark. Moreover, the use of natural — as opposed to artificial lighting — contributes to the unvarnished aesthetic of the interior.


Plain House

By Wutopia Lab, China

Photos by CreatAR Images, Chen Hao and Shengliang Su

Wutopia Lab repurposed these two former studios to create a personal museum and a painter’s house for artist Li Bin. Looking to reflect their client’s craftsmanship, the architects have taken the usually functional design components and carefully elevated them to a higher artistic purpose. On the outside, leaf-printed patterns sprinkle the light grey façade and lush trees paint impressionistic strokes of shadow onto the walls. Inside, monochromatic walls interact with skylights and narrow windows for vivid combinations.

But the most noteworthy feature is a three-sided skylight on the south-west corner of the living room ceiling. The living room thus becomes its own art exhibit, as changes in the weather and time of day varies the composition and lighting of the red-painted room — an artistic interplay between color and light fit for the painter-in-residence.


House B – Terra Panonica

By Studio AUTORI, Mokrin, Serbia

Rejecting the idea of the theatrical space as a necessarily dark and solemn place, this new estate espouses a more open (and bright) setting for its cultural projects thanks to a series of large skylights. From the outside, the playfully random assortment of skylights and windows healthily counterbalances the more serious dark-grey exterior.


Beijing Muee Restaurant

By MAT Office, Beijing, China
Photos by Jin Weiqi

Photos by Jin Weiqi

The interior design of this new restaurant in Beijing consists in an amalgam of superimposed domes with small circular skylights inserted throughout. The architects might argue that the cave-like design harks back to humans’ most primitive form of habitation, but the smooth arched surfaces and the rounded skylights assures us that the building is firmly anchored in the present-day.

Architects: Want to have your project featured? Showcase your work through Architizer and sign up for our inspirational newsletter. 

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