December 4, 2012

Costa Rica’s motto may be “pura vida” (pure life), but the country has a big trash problem. More than 60% of the 2400 tons of garbage produced daily in this tourism hot spot ends up in unregulated, open junkyards; less than 10% is recycled. Even worse, 250 tons are dumped into Costa Rica’s beautiful rivers and tropical forests every day. That’s why a group of architecture students from New York Institute of Technology has begun building a recycling and education center in the Costa Rican town of Nosara. Now, the students, led by NYIT professor Tobias Holler, of HOLLER Architecture, have launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise enough funds to complete the center, and document the process. Read more!
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August 26, 2012

We had a great week in projects, so much so that it was difficult in formulating this list. The standout, of course, was the highly sculptural Porsche pavilion in Germany, which intriguingly combined bits of retro Saarinen with Zaha panache. Still, projects such as the Krea Arts Center in Almeria and the Binh Duong School in Vietnam performed just as well, if not more so, sculptural in their own right way whilst presenting singular formal and programmatic solutions specific to their contexts. There’s more too, but you’ll have to click through!
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August 19, 2012

Architizer cut out early this week for the team’s annual off-site in upstate New York, where lots of talk, food, swimming, and RISK went down. There was also some work–alas–but that did not dampen our good spirits (that would be achieved by RISK), and we still found some time to throw together our top projects of the week. The buildings are loosely aligned to an admittedly half-baked “private retreat/ideal workspace” theme, where the latter unfolds before the real (or simulated) expanse of the former. Enjoy them! We’ll see you Monday!


House D, Austria



Bridge School, Fujian, China


House on a Pinewood, Castagneto Carducci, Italy


House T, Tokyo, Japan



Embedded House, Heiligengeist, Austria
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July 27, 2012

As the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics graces our TV screens and athletes run, jump, swim, and shoot their way to glory, it’s easy to become a little put off by all of the pomp and circumstance. For some it might be upsetting to realize that they can never become Olympians. Thank goodness there is always architecture to lift one’s spirits! We’ve prepared this installment of projects to steer you clear of Olympic angst. Among them, a house and studio for making dolls in Japan, a police station in Spain, a tram station in Munich, and a vacation house in Portugal. Enjoy!



U House by Jorge Graça Costa



Fuencarral-El Pardo Police Station by Voluar Arquitectura



Atelier-Bisque Doll by UID architects



The Cyclops by NIO Architecten



Hous.E+ by Polifactory



Munich Bus and Tram Station by PRPM Architekten
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June 29, 2012

Center for Virtual Engineering by UNStudio
Another week has come and gone, and June is at an end. Perfect time for a round up, we think. The following five projects were our favorites from this week’s bunch. They’re all different–some are larger, others domestic, some are research centers, others pleasure enclaves. But, they’re all formally distinguished from their peers in one way or another. Catch up with the architecture that happened this week! See you on Monday.
Continue.
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June 24, 2012

‘Dwelling in Etura‘ by Roberto Ercilla Arquitectura
We welcomed summer this week with a slew of great projects. We saw a lot of private houses and villas (but also some museums and schools) from all corners of the world, each of which look primed for summer. Nearly all of them have spectacular views, extravagant landscaping, and, best of all minimalist pools. We thought we’d count down our top five of the last few days, so dig in, make yourself a bowl of ice cream, and scroll away. Continue.
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July 29, 2011

As the week winds down*, we’re obliged to share this lovely project by SpaceSpace. The Isoyama Dispensing Pharmacy is a three-, four- and five-leaf asterisk patterned gesamtkunstwerk disguised as a roadside dispensary in Suzuka, Japan. It’s a nice little play on Mies’ famously plus-shaped Barcelona Pavilion columns (chrome plated, baller), pictured below:

Curious about the origins of the Asterisk, we dove into its Wikipedia article. The shapes (which range from three- to sixteen-leaf versions) were originally “derived from the need of the printers of family trees in feudal times as a symbol to indicate date of birth.” More images of the wittily-detailed project, after the jump.
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June 24, 2011

Starting this week (carpe diem and etcetera), we’ll be listing the most trafficked project posts from the Architizer database for your viewing pleasure. It’s pretty fascinating, not just from an eye candy perspective, but to see what Architizer readers — and Facebook fans and Twitter followers — are clicking on.
So far, we’re noticing a yen for cool houses, greenery, and roof structures. See the top five for this week after the jump.
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