Finnish studio MNY Arkitekter has completed Two Sisters, a timber holiday home in Salo that is designed to allow two siblings to live “together separately”.
To create a dedicated space for each of the two sisters, MNY Arkitekter divided the home into two standalone units joined by a central terrace overlooking the surrounding rocks and pine trees on Finland’s west coast.
The two units are joined by a central terrace
“In many ways the site is one of typical Finnish inner archipelago terrain and vegetation, and one of the main goals was to preserve as many trees and visible rocks as possible,” MNY Arkitekter founder Mathias Nyström told Dezeen.
“Equality of the views from the two units was also important and had a significant impact on the layout.”
Each unit has large windows. Photo by Mathias Nyström
The home’s two units “fan out” to provide privacy and avoid the surrounding trees, while making space for an existing sauna, utility room and overnight shelter on the site.
Each block features large windows at its western end, looking towards the sea and pine trees to the west. Openings facing the central terrace have been placed to minimise overlooking.
Black kitchen counters feature in each living space
“Being in one of the units you can only see the other from certain points, otherwise you mostly sense the existence of the other part,” said Nyström.
“You are on your own, but feel part of a bigger entity,” he added.
Each living space at Two Sisters has been finished with black kitchen counters, a dining table and a large freestanding fireplace. Built-in bench seating provides space to sit and look out over the landscape.
In the northern block, a bed is housed in a small nook off this living space backed by a full-height window, while to the south the slightly larger unit provides a double bedroom and two single bedrooms alongside the living space.
A small bed is backed by a full-height window in the larger unit
Two Sisters has a prefabricated structure of glue-laminated timber, finished externally with vertical planks of spruce. Internally, pale timber walls, floors and ceilings are treated with lye.
“The aim for the atmosphere was to create a uniform, serene space where nature plays a big part – the end result is very uplifting,” said Nyström.
“The weathered silver-grey wood will fuse the building in the landscape with rocks and pines. All in all it is a down to earth and subtle building,” he added.
The home is constructed from glued-laminated timber
Elsewhere in Finland, MNY Arkitekter created a home on the shoreline of a small lake in Tenala using seven different varieties of timber.
Other recent projects in the country include a sauna and restaurant on the edge of Lake Saimaa by Studio Puisto and the steel-clad Dance House by JKMM and ILO architects in Helsinki.
The photography is by Multifoto Ab unless otherwise stated.
Architecture studio Wallmakers has repurposed approximately 6,200 discarded toys to construct the walls of Toy Storey, a circular home in Kerala, India.
The aptly named residence by Wallmakers uses toys discarded in the area, which are unsuitable for recycling, as structural components and decoration within the external walls.
A cantilevered verandah wraps around the circular home
“The main concept of Toy Storey revolves around the idea of using discarded toys and effectively conveying a message through this,” studio founder Vinu Daniel told Dezeen.
“By repurposing around 6,200 discarded toys, the residence in Kerala becomes a living monument to nostalgia and childhood, while addressing environmental concerns,” he added.
Approximately 6,200 discarded toys are used in the home’s walls
Toy Storey is wrapped by perforated, curved walls composed of compressed stabilised earth blocks, Mangalore tiles and toys, designed to draw in light and enable cross ventilation through the home. A ferrocement roof sits on top.
Four evenly-spaced entrances puncture the facade, which is wrapped by a cantilevered verandah offering outdoor space overlooking the surrounding greenery.
Perforated walls draw light and ventilation through the interior
Inside, the home’s first floor is divided into public and private segments. The public half is defined by a large living room while the private half contains an open-plan kitchen and dining area flanked by bedrooms.
“One of the things that the client mentioned was they often host their neighbours and members of the community, which means there are often many people in the house,” Daniel said.
“Hence we decided to make the area the people frequented separate from that of the client’s family’s personal spaces,” he continued.
Japanese-style shoji screens are used as partitions throughout the interior to enable light into each space and connectivity between the private and public areas.
An open-plan kitchen and dining area are flanked by bedrooms
The site’s topography enabled the addition of a secluded basement level containing a library and bedroom, accessed from the upper floor by a central staircase.
An internal courtyard topped with a glass ceiling slices through the building providing additional daylight for the interior.
Japanese-style shoji screens are used as internal partitions
Wallmakers is an architecture studio established by Daniel in 2007. Elsewhere in India, Wallmakers has also recently completed an arts centre with rooftop seating and a house that resembles “snake curling up under a rock”.
Last year, Daniel faced criticism on social media for his studio’s use of unpaid internships, which he claims have an important educational benefit.
The photography is by Syam Sreesylam and Althaf Rasheed.
An exhibition at Galerie Patrick Seguin in Paris allows visitors to experience the Jean Prouvé-designed Maison Les Jours Meilleurs in both real life and virtual reality.
The gallery is exhibiting the most significant element of the demountable prefabricated house, its load-bearing service core, in a full-scale installation that doubles as a virtual reality (VR) experience.
The load-bearing service core is key to the design of the original Maison Les Jours Meilleurs (above and top image)
Prouvé, the French architect best known for applying mass-production principles to both buildings and furniture, developed the design for the 57-square-metre house in 1956.
Known as Maison Les Jours Meilleurs, or “better days house”, the house was designed to tackle a homelessness crisis in the French capital.
This core is the centrepiece of the exhibition at Galerie Patrick Seguin
In the winter of 1954, temperatures dropped so low that a woman and child died from the cold.
After being denied a request for funding to provide emergency housing, Abbé Pierre – a Catholic priest who was the founder of the Emmaüs movement against poverty – put out a plea on the radio for aid.
Prouvé responded immediately and, in a few weeks, had developed a design he felt could offer the solution.
The design centres around the service core, a steel cylinder painted olive green. This provides all the kitchen and bathroom services and carries the weight of the building’s roof.
It is installed on a full-scale sketch floor plan
Prouvé first exhibited a prototype of the Maison Les Jours Meilleurs on Quai Alexandre-III in February 1956.
This was described by fellow architect Le Corbusier as “the handsomest house I know of, the most perfect object for living in, the most sparkling thing ever constructed”.
However, the model never made it to production and only a handful were ever built.
A VR headset transforms the scene into a 3D visualisation of the house
Galerie Patrick Seguin owns the world’s largest collection of Prouvé houses, which it has installed in exhibitions around the world. In 2015, it commissioned architect Richard Rogers to put a new spin on one.
This exhibition marks the first time the gallery has allowed a Prouvé house to be experienced in virtual reality.
It shows the house installed on the banks of the Seine in Paris
The installation places the service core inside a full-scale sketch floor plan that reveals the house’s layout.
A VR headset transforms the scene into a visualisation of the house, placing it back on the spot where it was installed in 1956, on the banks of the Seine.
The photography is courtesy of Galerie Patrick Seguin.
Jean Prouvé, Maison Les Jours Meilleurs is on show at Galerie Patrick Seguin from 14 March to 20 April 2024. See Dezeen Events Guide for more architecture and design events around the world.
Local spruce wood is used throughout Markolfhalle Markelfingen, a multipurpose hall that architecture studio Steimle Architekten has added to the edge of a lake in Germany.
Located on the northern shore of Lake Constance in the Radolfzell district, the timber building contains sports courts and a stage for events, unified by a cantilevered roof overhead.
The Markolfhalle Markelfingen hall is embedded into the sloping landscape
Due to the natural slope of the site, Steimle Architekten embedded the Markolfhalle Markelfingen hall into the landscape, with a stepped plinth on one side that offers access to the upper level from the outside.
The two-storey building is crafted from spruce sourced locally from forests in the region, nodding to traditional buildings nearby that are made from the same wood.
The building is largely made from spruce wood
“The Lake Constance region is characterised by its rural structures,” studio architect Michaela Afife told Dezeen.
“Wood has always been a traditional building material in this region too. With its tranquil appearance, timber construction blends in with the traditional settlement landscape around Lake Constance,” she continued.
Vertical timber battens sit between the building’s columns
Externally, rhythmic timber columns animate each elevation, infilled by tightly arranged vertical timber battens.
“The consistently homogeneous outer shell with its vertical timber louvre structure gives the building a uniform appearance on all four sides,” said Afife.
An overhanging roof crowns the hall
Inside, Markolfhalle Markelfingen holds a large double-height sports hall with two courts that can be separated by a netted divider.
Around the edges of the main space, the studio incorporated additional facilities including a raised stage, which is recessed into the timber-panelled wall.
Wooden panels line the bottom half of the walls inside, helping to conceal doors that open onto an outdoor playing field.
Slim windows are arranged at regular intervals around the top half of the walls to illuminate the space, while the ceiling has an exposed gridded timber structure.
Markolfhalle Markelfingen contains two sports courts
“The powerful and contemporary timber construction of the multi-purpose hall is the centre of cultural community life for citizens, clubs and schools,” said Steimle Architekten.
“As a multifunctional building, the hall with its one and a half sports fields and adjoining stage area fulfils the requirements of both sports use and an attractively designed event hall.”
A stage is recessed into the timber wall
On the upper level is the entrance foyer, accessed through four glazed doors and offering views of the multipurpose hall below.
Most of the foyer level is left open, excluding a green-painted kiosk that holds a reception area.
The entrance foyer overlooks the hall below
Other spaces in Markolfhalle Markelfingen include changing rooms, toilets, storage rooms and a kitchen for venue catering, all of which sit under the first-floor foyer.
Steimle Architekten is a German architecture studio founded by Thomas and Christine Steimle. Its previous projects include a library built within an existing traditional barn and a crystal-like house made from board-marked concrete.
US studio Michael Hennessey Architecture has revitalised an ageing suburban house near San Francisco, adding black cladding and bright finishes to form a family home that bridges the past, present and future.
The residence is located in Mill Valley, a town just north of San Francisco that is known for its natural terrain and cultural offerings.
Michael Hennessey Architecture created Courtyard Hous
Designed for a couple with two young children, the budget-conscious project involved the renovation of a suburban-style house that was “in sore need of upgrades”.
The aim was to create a dwelling that supported the family’s current needs while being mindful of what might be needed in the future.
The home is U-shaped in plan
“The home was thought not only as a shelter, but also as a bridge: from past to present, from one landscape condition to another, and from what a family wanted to what they could have,” said Michael Hennessey Architecture, which is based in San Francisco.
Built into a hillside, the home is U-shaped in plan, with gabled volumes organised around a central courtyard.
Vertical cedar siding that adds a sense of gravitas
The team opted to preserve certain elements while adding contemporary interventions.
The building’s beige exterior was replaced with black, vertical cedar siding that adds a sense of gravitas, the studio said. The roof is covered in standing-seam metal.
Inside there is a clear division between public and private zones
Inside, the 1,870-square-foot (174-square-metre) house features a clear division between public and private zones.
On the main level, one side holds an open-concept kitchen, dining area, and living room, while the other encompasses three bedrooms. The ground level contains a family room and a garage.
A south-facing deck features outside
“Clearly delineated programmatic areas work in harmony with each other, the outside and the family’s needs,” the team said.
Interior finishes include ash cabinetry, large-format porcelain floor tiles, and ceramic tiles around the fireplace. Lofty ceilings and large stretches of glass provide an airy feel.
The outdoor spaces include a spacious, south-facing deck that receives bright sunlight. Softer light flows in through the courtyard on the north.
Proving a connection to the forested, hilly landscape was a guiding concern for the team.
Outdoor showers were also included in the design
“Every part of the house is oriented towards the landscape thanks to carefully framed views of the lush immediate vegetation, as well as the more distant valleys, resulting in a comprehensive, thoughtful and sensitive approach to creating an extraordinary daily life,” the team said.
Other projects by Michael Hennessey Architecture include a townhouse with modern bay windows that was designed to offer alternatives to “conventional building strategies” and the refurbishment of a 1960s house that was originally built by Joseph Eichler, known for his modernist housing subdivisions.
UK architecture studio Pearce+ and Canadian designer Joe Kalturnyk have created a temporary inflatable restaurant for subzero temperatures in Winnipeg, Canada.
The barrel-vaulted restaurant has space for 48 guests dining in temperatures as low as -30 degrees Celsius during the 10th annual RAW:almond fine dining food festival, which celebrates both Canadian cuisine and the harsh winter.
The temporary restaurant was designed by Pearce+
Each year, the food festival commissions the construction of a temporary structure that responds to its environment and incorporates sustainable reuse.
“[The shelter] mirrors the ethos of the food served within by minimizing waste, discovering elegance in simplicity, creatively celebrating local identity, and incorporating a global outlook,” said the team.
It featured a vaulted dining room
Pearce+, based in Herfordshire and London, constructed the 220-square metre (2,370-square foot) restaurant in just a few weeks, and it was in use for 22 days early in 2024.
The snow-surrounded structure had a cruciform plan with a 140-square metre (1,500-square foot) vaulted dining room that contained two linear tables.
Pearce+ developed custom inflatable panels
Employing a Diagrid framework, the vault was constructed from 18-meter-long, 15-millimetre reinforced steel bars.
“These bars were bundled in groups of three, with varying plywood spacers, to create exceptionally lightweight trusses,” the team said.
Interior diamond-shaped panels featured a reflective foil layer
The team – with the help of inflatable specialists at Inflate Ltd – developed custom inflatable panels that mitigated the potential pressure to decrease the cold temperature’s lower air density. It was stretched over the framework.
The diamond-shaped panels featured a gold-coloured foil layer that reflected heat into the space.
Festival goers entered through a smaller vaulted lobby tunnel
Along the ridge line, the gold panels were swapped with transparent ones, offering a view to the snowy sky.
The panels were connected with Velcro – rather than glue due to the extreme temporal variation – and were disassembled and stored for future uses.
Directly across from the entrance was the rectangular kitchen
Capping each end of the dining area were trapezoidal buttressing structures, designed to resist strong winds and offer emergency egress.
Festival goers entered through a smaller vaulted lobby tunnel at the centre of the plan. A gabled wooden vestibule transitioned into the dining area.
Directly behind the structure was the rectangular kitchen.
Separated by a small hallway, the kitchen was constructed with a Structurally Insulated Panels (SIP) flat-pack and outfitted with high-quality appliances.
Rectangular dining tables featured inside
The structure was meant to be a demonstration of ways to conserve space by utilising temporary structures.
“I think it’s necessary to start re-envisioning how we use space, for what and for how long,” said RAW:almond co-founder Joe Kalturnyk.
“In the beginning I was interested in seeing if you can temporarily build a city within a city – and what better way to test the idea than with food? RAW:almond was a huge leap – would people embrace the winter and eat outdoors? Would they do it on a frozen river? And ultimately, could we even pull this off?”
In 2015, the RAW:almond pop-up restaurant was constructed on the surface of a frozen river with an X-shaped plan lying over the connection between the Assiniboine and Red rivers.
The restaurant was designed for subzero temperatures
Also in Winnipeg, Canadian studio KPMB revealed a horticultural centre with a Fibonacci spiral roof.
RAW:almond 2024 took place from 24 January to 18 February. For more events, talks and exhibitions involving architecture and design visit Dezeen Events Guide.
Project credits:
Project founders: Joe Kalturnyk & Mandel Hitzer Architect/designer: Pearce+ and Joe Kalturnyk Architect of record: AtLrg Architecture Project management: Joe Kalturnyk Structural engineers: Wolfrom Engineering Inflatable specialists: Inflate Visualisations: Pearce+ Construction: RAW:Almond team, Pearce+ and Hi-Rise
The built environment is the fastest-growing consumer of materials in the world – but it also offers the most potential for improvement according to Julia Okatz, advisor on the UN’s landmark Global Resource Outlook.
Making buildings and neighbourhoods more efficient could reduce the global need for raw materials by 25 per cent by 2060, the International Resource Panel (IRP) report found, while slashing energy demand and emissions by 30 per cent.
“Built environment patterns are the single most important determiner of a country’s emissions,” Okatz told Dezeen.
“[Firstly] because of its direct impacts, because of heating and all the climate impacts embodied in materials, but also because of its impact on people’s behaviour,” she continued.
“The built environment isn’t just concrete use, it has all these other implications on energy use, so it is probably the biggest lever overall.”
Above: IRP report shows resource use has skyrocketed since 1970. Top image: De Sijs housing in Belgium offers an example of more resource-efficient design
The need for carefully considered buildings that reduce resource use while maintaining or even improving inhabitants’ quality of life presents an exciting opportunity for architects to take more control of the planning process, Okatz argues,
“I think architects would be one of the major benefitting industries in this scenario,” she said.
“We need less mass deployment of inefficient options and much more architectural design. So I think for architects, it’s actually a growth agenda.”
Resource use tripled in the last 50 years
Launched during the sixth session of the UN Environment Assembly this month, the 2024 Global Resource Outlook is the IRP‘s latest review of the world’s resource use since the last edition of the report was published in 2019.
Our “insatiable use of resources” has tripled over the last 50 years, the latest report found, and is now responsible for over 55 per cent of global emissions and 40 per cent of air pollution impacts, making it the “main driver” of the planetary crisis.
While environmental impacts are escalating, the economic and wellbeing benefits brought by our increasing use of the Earth’s resources have stagnated – and in some cases even declined
Left unchecked, material extraction looks set to rise by a further 60 per cent by 2060, compounding these negative impacts.
Clever formwork could be used to make buildings less concrete-intensive. Photo by Patrick Bedarf
Buildings and construction are chief among the four sectors responsible for this increase, according to the Global Resource Outlook. “The built environment globally is the fastest growing material consumer,” said Okatz, who is the “right hand” of IRP co-chair Janez Potočnik and the director of natural resources at consulting firm Systemiq.
But the report also outlines an achievable path by which the industry could reduce its use of raw materials by 25 per cent by 2060, while helping to deliver “global prosperity”.
“You can lift a lot of those people now living in poverty onto a level of really good quality of life in a really efficient way if – and this is the important if – high-income countries also get a lot more efficient,” Okatz said.
Single-family homes “bad urban design”
Concrete makes up the biggest and fastest-growing chunk of the built environment’s material demand.
Sand, gravel, limestone and other “non-metallic minerals” used to make concrete account for half of all materials extracted globally and around half of the industry’s entire climate footprint, according to the Global Resource Outlook.
More efficient structural design – making use of innovations such as vaulted flooring and clever formwork – can reduce concrete use per building by around 30 per cent, Okatz estimates.
And switching to low-carbon concrete or biomass-based alternatives like timber can help to mitigate some of the adverse environmental impacts.
But perhaps the biggest and most undervalued solution highlighted in the report lies in changing what kind of buildings are built – not just how they are constructed, according to Okatz.
“About 50 per cent of residential construction in Europe is single-family homes and, to be honest, that’s just bad urban design,” she said.
“It’s also not particularly future-proof because demand might still be quite high now but the overall trend, largely, is people moving into city centres and wanting to be less car-dependent,” she added.
“So we think a lot of that will basically be a bad investment beyond 20 years from now, even if it wasn’t resource inefficient.”
Architects can lead the charge
Instead, the data suggests we need more “medium-density” residential buildings, which require fewer resources to build and operate while offering a superior quality of life compared to more dense developments.
“In a European context, the average is to say something like six-unit houses are probably best,” Okatz said. “Because it still allows people really good green space access and good noise insulation, all of these things. But it’s quite efficient.”
Following the example of Belgium’s De Sijs project (top image) and Virrey Aviles Street housing in Buenos Aires (below), making these kinds of dwellings more aspirational and attractive presents a key opportunity for architects, according to Okatz.
Virrey Aviles Street housing balances resource efficiency with green space access. Photo by Javier Agustín Rojas
“Architects and great design should be valued more because everyone can do a boring single-family home but not everyone can do an amazing six-unit community living space,” she said.
“What good architecture can do to slightly denser living – to me that is where I would see architects really leading the way,” Okatz continued.
“To say: if you do it right, this is how amazing life can be in these kinds of set-ups so people don’t even want to live in their own little thing anymore because it’s lonely, inefficient and expensive.”
The top image of the De Sijs housing project in Belgium is by Stijn Bollaert.
Dutch studio MVRDV has revealed a series of residential high-rises arranged around courtyards in Shenzhen’s Qianhai bay, which will form part of a smart city development by technology company Tencent.
Named Tencent 5, the residential complex will have four courtyards surrounded by 11 apartment buildings and an adjacent kindergarten, designed to be a neighbourhood that fosters community.
Tencent 5 will have 11 apartment buildings arranged around courtyards
Located on a narrow peninsula, the bayside residences will be the centrepiece of a wider smart city campus developed by Tencent and masterplanned by US architecture studio NBBJ.
MVRDV designed Tencent 5 as a social and green development that provides housing to employees working in the city.
Muli-level balconies will puncture the facades
“By contributing to Tencent’s smart city, we want to show that smart cities are also healthy cities, green cities, and social cities,” said MVRDV founding partner Winy Maas.
“The attention in smart cities always goes to the technology, and our design of the Tencent residential complex certainly includes that, but in our conception, the technology-related aspects are inseparable from the social spaces, the green courtyards, the terraces – the technological goes hand-in-hand with the human.”
It will provide housing to employees working in the smart city campus
The terraced residential buildings, which range in height from 57 to one hundred metres, will have equally-sized apartments with views of the sea to the west and the bay towards the east.
“Located at the northern end of the campus, MVRDV’s design emphasises equality between residents,” said MVRDV. “All units are identical in size and layout, with each providing a balcony or bay window to its occupant.”
“The buildings are terraced, supporting communal green spaces that can be accessed by all residents.”
The green courtyards and other public spaces in Tencent 5 were designed to be places where neighbours can connect with each other.
Pedestrian paths through the complex will provide added outdoor space populated with sports and leisure activities.
Green pathways will cut through the site
Additional shared amenity space will be located on the ground floors of the residential buildings, and multi-level balconies will puncture the facades.
“Large, multi-floor breakout spaces puncture the towers’ facades at a variety of levels, allowing residents to gather with others who live in the same part of the building and breaking the development into a number of smaller ‘neighbourhoods’,” said MVRDV.
A series of connected blocks will form the kindergarten
A kindergarten adjacent to the residential complex will also be arranged around its own courtyard. It will be made up of a series of blocky buildings with rooftop gardens, connected by corridors and walkways.
“The courtyard, along with the spaces between the blocks, provide safe and shaded playing spaces for the children, while the blocks themselves feature rooftop gardens,” said MVRDV.
The kindergarten will also have a courtyard
Construction on Tencent 5 is underway and it is due to be completed in 2024.
Other projects by MVRDV in China include the transformation of a skyscraper in Shenzhen into a women and children’s centre and its plans for a library in Wuhan with a sweeping form.
The rough finishes of an existing concrete and brick structure are contrasted by white exhibition spaces at Arario Gallery in Seoul, completed by Japanese studio Schemata Architects.
The gallery is located at the rear of the Space Group Building, a modernist icon in South Korea that houses the Arario Museum.
Designed by architect Kim Swoo-geun, the grey-brick, heritage-listed building was completed in the 1970s and converted into the museum in 2014.
Arario Gallery sits alongside the grey-brick Space Group Building
Alongside this building is a glazed extension from the 1990s by architect Jang Se-yang, a student of Swoo-geun, as well as a traditional South Korean home, or hanok, which was relocated to the site when it reopened in 2014.
Amid this architectural backdrop is a brick and concrete structure added to the site in the 1980s, which Schemata Architects was tasked with converting into the Arario Gallery.
“It was a great challenge for me, a Japanese architect, to work on the third building – excluding the hanok – especially after seeing the perfect contrast between the two buildings already created by the master and the disciple,” said Schemata Architects Principal Jo Nagasaka.
The gallery spaces are contained in white rooms
Looking to create a space that “looks unchanged on the outside”, the studio retained the building’s structural frame and dark brickwork, originally chosen to complement the Space Group Building.
“In this context, we thought that inserting another unique feature into the landscape would not be appropriate,” explained Nagasaka.
Brickwork extends across the floor of the basement
Organised across four floors and a basement level, the white-walled gallery spaces sit alongside the existing staircase, lift, service and storage areas, where the structure’s rough material finishes have been left exposed.
In these more industrial-feeling spaces, walls have been made using plywood on metal frames. Teamed with metal doors and white metal balustrades, they deliberately stand out against the “skeleton” of the existing building.
In the basement, the dark grey brickwork of the adjacent museum is mirrored in a brick floor that extends throughout the space.
On the third floor, sections of the exterior wall were removed to create a full-height glass wall in the VIP area. This looks out towards the nearby Changdeokgung Palace and a surrounding park, also visible through windows in the stairwell.
White metal accents highlight new additions to the Arario Gallery
“In this way, we established repetitive patterns where visitors would emerge from the white cube into a skeleton space and see the palace beyond as they ascend to the upper floors,” said Nagasaka.
Large windows in the Arario Gallery overlook Changdeokgung Palace
Schemata Architects is a Tokyo-based studio, Founded in 1998 by Nagasaka after he graduated from Tokyo University of the Arts.
Its previous projects include a public bathhouse in Tokyo finished with turquoise tiles and a hillside guesthouse and bar for a home on the coast of an island in the Seto Inland Sea.
Architect Yussef Agbo-Ola has created a tent-like temple informed by Sharjah’s topography and biodiversity as part of the Sharjah Architecture Triennial.
Occupying a classroom within the former school that is now the triennial’s headquarters, the temple was designed by Agbo-Ola of London environmental design practice Olaniyi Studio as a place for incense burning and reflection.
Named Jabal: 9 Ash Cleansing Temple, the structure was made from jute, hemp and cotton yarns knitted into a fabric to encourage reflection on how climate change is impacting Sharjah’s biodiversity.
Yussef Agbo-Ola created a temple for the Sharjah Architecture Triennial
“Jabal: 9 Ash Cleansing Temple is a living architectural entity for honouring non-human life and endangered species in the womb of a scared mountain,” Agbo-Ola told Dezeen.
“It honours ephemeral rituals across architecture, performance and art within Bedouin, Yoruba and Cherokee communities that respect the natural world and practice environmental consecration,” he continued.
“This sacred structure is an apparatus for collective aroma rituals of bakhoor or incense burning and invites visitors to partake in breathing ceremonies within the inner altars of the structure.”
The installation is called Jabal: 9 Ash Cleansing Temple
The tent-like structure, which is surrounded by dried mud, has a form and colour intended to evoke the Jebel Jais Mountain in Sharjah’s neighbouring emirate of Ras Al Khaimah.
“It is my core belief that mountains are the mothers that hold an environment’s wisdom and DNA within them,” said Agbo-Ola.
“They can speak to us and are seen as elements in a landscape that humble us in relation to their scale and presence. The truth is, they are also extruded from the land by the unseen tensions and movements of the tectonic layers under the surface.”
“The colours of the knit skins are inspired by the colour pallet of the mountains and rock formations in the landscape as well as light patterns that depict fractal fossilised micro-crustaceans,” he continued.
“When these organisms, which are symbolically represented in the knits, are linked together in the temple, they create a new visual ecosystem as a symbolic form of their dependence on each other for ecological balance.”
The temple is made from jute, hemp and cotton
According to Agbo-Ola, the structure was also designed to celebrate fertility and the natural process of transformation.
“I believe it is the things that we cannot hold on to, that we cannot possess or claim, that become meaningful and hold an essence of amazement or reverence within us,” he explained.
“Jabala: 9 Ash Cleansing Temple is designed in a similar way in the sense that each fabric skin in the design should be seen from the perspective of the single thread that holds it together,” he continued. “The decay that occurs when one microscopic organism eats the temple’s fibres or lays eggs on it is just as important as the overall form and shape of the temple from the macro scale.”
It was designed as a space for incense burning and reflection
Overall, Agbo-Ola hopes that the temple will act as a space for contemplation.
“As visitors walk through the temple they are invited to experience the perspectives and beauty of non-human entities while slowing down to reverence the presence of the sacred mountains,” he said.
“This element of contemplation is induced by the burning of bakhoor and incense in the temple as a collective ritual.”
The tent-like structure is surrounded by dried mud
“There is also a sound work that is connected to the piece, which acts as the voice of the temple,” he continued. “The sonic work draws from research into ritual, shamanism and the practices of healers, that can bring new and deeper connections to our ecological environments.”
“The experimental composition of orchestral and spatial gradients aims to mimic the multi-layered atmospheric acoustic conversations between botanical, geological and unseen environmental elements.”
The second edition of the Sharjah Architecture Triennial was curated by Nigerian architect Tosin Oshinowo, who explained the triennial’s theme of scarcity in a recent interview with Dezeen.
Elsewhere, we rounded up 12 intriguing pavilions and installations from the event.
Sharjah Architecture Triennial 2023 takes place from 11 November 2023 to 10 March 2024 at various locations across Sharjah. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.
