Phil the Groundhog at the Garden Shed; All Photoshop work: Peter Levins

The frost of winter is on the thaw, and spring will come early this year! At least, that’s our take on the results from this year’s Groundhog Day. No, the furry little prognosticator—that would be Phil—will not see his shadow this coming Saturday (Feb. 2), and that’s that.

So what better way to welcome the new season than with the best of “spring architecture”? It’s something we just made up, but by which we mean houses that photograph real well in the springtime, when flowers are coming into bloom, the sky is blue, and the sun hasn’t reached its greatest intensity yet. We’ve gone ahead and added Phil in there just to be festive, so see if you can spot him in the following 10 projects. Click through for the slideshow.

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Building: Torus House
Architect: Vo Trong Nghia Architects
Location: Dong Trieu, Quang Ninh province, Vietnam
Why We Liked This:

Vo Tron Nghia is an up-and-comer. His portfolio includes several diverse projects, each taking on different formal and material expressions. His firm’s “Torus House”, a coiled stone house hidden behind a screen of greenery, is no different. The structure loops in on itself, topped by a continuous lawn of grass that along with the central oval courtyard, planted with shrubbery and trees, gives the residence an intimate exchange with nature. Compared with the exterior’s play of rough, weathered stone and verdant grasses, the inside is much more refined: nearly every surface is treated with  a dark polished wood, like that of erstwhile ocean liners (at least the luxury cabins, that is). See more of this project in the Architizer database here.

You think you’ve got a better project? Submit it for an Architizer A+ Award!

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Vo Trong Nghia Architects seem to have mastered sustainable design, as seen in their Binh Duong School, their urban greenhouse, and the Bamboo Wing restaurant. The firm uses renewable materials, such as bamboo and thatch, for construction and tries to use passive cooling methods wherever possible. This is especially important in the tropical climate of Vietnam, where humidity and heat are ever-present obstacles to comfort. Their Wind and Water Bar in Binh Duong province evinces this ecological attitude in a squat yet elegant dome structure, built completely out of bamboo arches and thatch. Continue.

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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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Building: Binh Duong School
Architect: Vo Trong Nghia Architects
Location: Binh Duong, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Why We Like It: In the hot tropical climate of southern Vietnam, passive cooling is a must. There are many ways to achieve this but Vo Trong Nghia’s design effectively uses some of the most basic moves. Situated in an area of abundant nature, the school dissolves the boundary between inside and outside with louvered outdoor walkways. The shades block sun from entering the passages, yet the openness to the exterior allows cooling winds to move through. There are also many apertures in the continuous volume of the school, allowing cross ventilation from side to side. The S-shaped building creates opportunities for two courtyards, shaded areas for play.

Images by Vo Trong Nghia

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It’s been an exciting week here at Architizer HQ: we have a new Editor-in-Chief, our air conditioning is back in working order, and we had the occasion to watch the filming of a t.v. show from our windows. Our favorite projects this week are equally exciting, including two performing arts centers, a hidden house, and an extraterrestrial garden. Take a break from the Olympic Games, turn your eyes from the Spice Girls performance at the closing ceremonies, and drown out US election coverage with this week’s project picks.

Kilden. Kristiansand, Norway.

Bay South Garden. Singapore, Singapore.

Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. Kansas City, United States.

Hidden House. London, United Kingdom.

Life in Spiral. Tokyo, Japan.

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Nettleton 198, Cape Town, South Africa

We’ve crash-landed into August (!), and the a/c has been out at the Architizer HQ for the last week. With temperatures pushing past the 90s (mid-30s C), work conditions haven’t exactly been optimal. Still, we took refuge in this week’s top “breezy” projects, and while they didn’t help us cool down, that doesn’t mean they aren’t incredibly cool. Nearly all can found in warm-to-hot and humid climates (with one exception)–from the Pitiusic Islands (Spain) to South Africa, Vietnam to Australia–and in each case, the same principle arises, namely knock down some walls and let the breeze flow. Happy travels, and remember, stay cool!

Tangga House, Singapore

Feldbalz, Zurich, Switzerland

Bamboo Wing, Vinh Phuc province, Vietnam

Can Manuel d’en Corda, Formentera, Spain

Fig Tree Pocket House 2, Queensland, Australia

Nettleton 198, Cape Town, South Africa

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The “i Resort” is located near a small hill across the river from the Vietnamese coastal city of Nha Trang. Built to accommodate the growing demand for hot springs and spas, the resort features mud baths as well as simple swimming pools, all nestled in a suitably tropical setting of palm trees, flowers, and thatched huts. Designed by a21studĩo, the Vietnamese architecture firm who previously designed a house with tree inside of it and an office made completely out of stone, the i Resort seems rooted in the vernacular but with a nice hint of sleek minimalism.

The resort has a number of passive cooling features built in to combat the potentially oppressive heat and humidity of the tropical latitudes. Rooms are situated around open-air pools; when wind passes over them, evaporation removes heat from the surrounding area. In addition, native flora are woven through the gardens between buildings, creating arbors and trellises to shade resort patrons while providing brilliant splashes of color to the seven acres of grounds. Click through for more.

Evaporative cooling keeps the rooms at a pleasant temperature

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“Green Stacking” by Vo Trong Nghia

Rising from a dense but otherwise blank residential block outside Ho Chi Minh City is architect Vo Trong Nghia‘s vertical house, whose front and rear facades are composed of stacked concrete planters, each of which bears a uniqe micro-garden of “vigorous and vibrant greenery”. The 4-story house springs from a narrow lot–4 meter wide, 20 meters deep–typical of Vietnamese “tube houses”, which, according to cultural practices, are adorned with several flower pots of tropical plants and flowers that lessen the bleakness of the city’s monotonous gray sprawl. Continue.

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Traffic in Frenetic HCMC, Vietnam from Rob Whitworth on Vimeo.

Upon arriving in Hanoi, Vietnam two years ago, I was instructed on how to perform the seemingly intuitive task of crossing the street: just cross it. Yes, there would be an onslaught of cars and motorbikes, and yes, where I come from, a little patience at the crosswalk usually rewards me with a stoplight-induced pause in traffic, but here things are different. One had to simply cross, stride forward into the asphalt gauntlet with no fear, just faith that two intersecting streams of traffic, both vehicular and pedestrian, would reconcile themselves. And they always did.

The ebb and flow of Vietnamese cities like Hanoi are nothing short of magical, and photographer Rob Whitworth attests to this with a captivating time-lapse video showing the thrilling circulation of traffic in Ho Chi Minh City (or Saigon to some). Threading together 10,000 RAW images, Whitworth captures what he describes as the “relentless energy and pace of change” found in Ho Chi Minh City. While some cities squabble over where to draw bike lanes and who gets access to what, Vietnam’s cities leave a wide open space for constant conflict and resolution, and somehow, everyone gets along just fine.

[Video found via The Atlantic Cities]

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