October 25, 2011
From the database today: AV1 Architekten were commissioned by a family to build a home in the small suburban village of Trippstadt, Germany, in the heart of one of the largest forests in Europe. The Pfälzerwald, or Palatinate Forest, was the backdrop upon which the wars between the Romans and Germanic tribes were fought in the last years of “BC.” These days, the forest is a designated national wonder, which contextualizes the name AV1 Architekten chose for the project: “Solitary in the Environment.”
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October 21, 2011
From the database today: Le Lorrain Housing by MDW ARCHITECTURE.
A former iron warehouse was chosen as a site for a social housing development in a working-class neighborhood of Brussels. Wedged between high parti walls on each side, the architects pushed the apartment units to the periphery of the site, opening up a wide “mixing chamber” in the center. In addition to the shared outdoor courtyard, each unit has its outdoor space, and the steel frame of a long-demolished facade screens the interior communal spaces from the street.
The Brussels complex was shortlisted for the Belgian Award for Architecture and Energy this year. The final winners will be announced next week, so expect increased exposure for this little gem over the next few months. More images.
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September 6, 2011
In northern European building culture, the thatched roof is a constant. It’s usually made of straw, while near forests a thatch might consist of birch bark and grass. In coastal areas, seaweed will do the trick.
This summer, Estonian office SALTO resurrected the vernacular staple with No99 Straw Theater, a temporary black-box theater in capital city Tallinn. What’s changed? For one thing, these bales of hay aren’t treated with tar - instead, they’ve been spray painted black.
The theater sits on the site that’s played host to a 200-year-old fort and a recreation area for the Soviet navy. After several failed attempts to develop it into usable real estate, SALTO proposed the theater as a way to testing the reactivation of the site. It closes in October, so go check it out if you’re nearby. Click through for a few more photos.
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July 21, 2011
The success of New York’s High Line park has inspired a string of urban imitators seeking to turn aging infrastructure into a pleasant place to stroll. The Red Ribbon Park in Qinhuangdao, China takes the linear park concept which the High Line executed so successfully and transplants it out of the urban setting to a verdant riverside.
See more after the jump.
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July 14, 2011
Being chill is an art and a craft (and a played-out music genre) – one that must be finely tuned to appear effortless. In this case, the Viennese may have failed by trying really hard, but they also win in the sense that Vienna’s citizens now get to enjoy an entire building of hammocks. After the jump, the the Flederhaus – which means “Bat House” auf Deutsch.
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July 11, 2011
The Hydro-electric Power Station in Kempten Germany by Becker Architekten.
If you visit the sleepy town of Kempten in Southern Germany, you’ll be charmed by its quaint, winding streets, dependably European squares and courts, and traditional (i.e., fabricated) German architecture. But you’d also become bored pretty quickly – that is, till you come across the city’s new hydro-electric power plant.
Completed in November of last year, the Hydro-electric Power Station replaces a mid-century plant and is capable of supporting approximately 3000 households with 10.5 million kilowatt-hours of power per year. The new plant is a far cry from typical industrial architecture: formally radical and spatially engaging, it looks like the product of a collaboration between a sculptor and an engineer.
Click on through for more!
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July 8, 2011
Naturally, I didn’t believe the rumors when I first heard them. Architects actually getting their work spliced into YouTube videos?! All for a measly millisecond of viewing time. But when Justin Bieber’s ‘Baby’ crossed the half-a-billion views on Vevo one few months ago, it began to sound credible. I had to find out for sure. After hours of scrutinizing countless videos I finally noticed something, just a tiny blip over a shoulder.
Could it be…. no…. a certain bald French architect?
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July 8, 2011
Earlier this year we explained what seismic isolators are, and now a Japanese architect has put them center stage in a new Osaka prefecture home. The mechanisms, which decouple the house from the ground movements happening during an earthquake, are usually buried underneath the ground level. Not so in the Television House, which is raised up on the usually hidden isolation units, making them clearly visible from the street.
Click through to see how these advanced structural mechanisms are put on display.
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July 7, 2011
In the vein of The Hairpin’s obsession with stock photography, we decided to see what enlightening canned imagery we could lay our grubby hands on by searching “architect.” Lo and behold, there are a ton of blueprints as props. Guess Shutterstock has realized that the reality (zombielike fixation on PC screen, 21 windows open in Adobe Creative Suite, crumbs and nicotine stains dotting fingertips) isn’t quite so glam or approachable.
Somewhere out there, Architect Barbie’s getting the last giggle:
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