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The high and low points of the installation seem to shift as they catch the light from different angles, creating a dynamic, almost kinetic effect. Designed by famed Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, the British Antique Museum opened in September 2022, honoring the close relationship between the town of Kamakura and Great Britain.

Just a one minute walk from Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine and a seven-minute walk from Kamakura Station, BAM exhibits British antiques collected over the years by museum director Masaomi Dobashi. The museum consists of four floors, each representing a different era and theme. The first floor is the museum shop, featuring a London taxi and telephone box. On the second floor, visitors will find Georgian-era antiques, including leather trunks, red cloaks, and bearskin hats worn by the Royal Guard.

On the third floor, visitors step into the world of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s novels with a Sherlock Holmes-themed exhibit that recreates the fictional detective’s study and living space down to the most intricate details. The museum explains that “in the front, there is an armchair that invites clients in, and the gourd-shaped gasojin (soda water maker) that appears in Holmes’s story, as well as antique microscopes and physics and chemistry equipment, are reproduced as they were at the time.”

Standout objects on the museum’s Victorian-themed fourth floor include a John Broadwood & Sons piano, an extra-large gramophone made in 1935, a fireplace from a Kensington mansion, and stained glass featuring an image of Queen Victoria.

“As a connection between Kamakura and England, there is the National Trust movement that started in England in the Victorian era,” Dobashi explains on the BAM website. “It is the permanent preservation of historically significant land and assets through donations, and many scenic spots have been preserved as heritage. Kamakura is the place where the idea of the National Trust was introduced for the first time in Japan. ‘Kamakura’ is linked to the desire to cherish the good old British things, and the wonderful cultural heritage is still inherited.”

Kuma’s process of designing the British Antique Museum is documented in the book Kengo Kuma: Creating a Small British Antique Museum in Kamakura by Masaomi Dobashi, revealing more details about the connections between Kamakura, Great Britain, and Kuma, who also designed V&A Dundee, a branch of London’s Victoria & Albert Museum located in Dundee, Scotland.

“British antiques and modern electric cars are exhibited there, and it can be said that it is a timeless fusion of old and new,” Kuma says. “This time, the British Antique Museum BAM, which stands on the approach to Kamakura’s historic Dankazura, is lined with pure antiques that have absorbed more than 100 years of time collected by Mr. Dobashi. In that sense, I thought that the design of the building should be as pure as possible. As a result of repeated deliberations, we eliminated all the windows and made it simple, adopting a facade inspired by Kamakura-bori, which symbolizes the traditional culture of Kamakura.”

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“Ha Long Villa” is remarkable at first glance not just for its irregular geometric facade, but also for the trees poking out of large apertures on every side, all the way up to the roof. Along with providing a little extra shade, the trees give the home a garden-like atmosphere that helps connect its inhabitants to nature within the rapidly industrializing coastal city of Ha Long.

The architects’ two principle motivations may seem to be at odds: the increasing loss of forests and other undeveloped spaces in the area, and the need to create high-quality sustainable housing that meets Ha Long’s rising standard of living. The result is an airy modern home with almost as much exterior living space as interior, though realistically, it’s a bit oversized as a single-family home to truly be considered sustainable.

“The semi-exterior space connects the interior and the terrace part of the garden, and is a place to promote various living activities,” the firm explains. “It is a multipurpose space which serves as a connection between each space. It is a place for gardening, sightseeing, sitting, [and] walking, and it also connects to the living space. These distinctive spaces offer residents options in their daily lives, like whether to dine inside or outside on a particular day. The various movements in the resident’s lives are also conveyed to the neighborhood through [the] windows in the exterior facade.”

Between the wrap-around terraces and all the plants on the rooftop, the architects have planted more greenery than construction of the home displaced, though of course, public green spaces have a lot more value to the community at large. VTN Architects took inspiration from stones found in the nearby UNESCO World Heritage Site Ha Long Bay for the rough exposed concrete of the exterior walls, which themselves are dappled in shadow by all the greenery. As the trees change along with the seasons, so does the facade.

“Ha Long Villa is one of the prototypes of ‘House for Trees,’ which is a series of residential projects,” add the architects. “The aim of the series is to bring green spaces back into the city, and to design as much greenery as was present in the original landscape to provide a healthier life to people living in the city. Due to the simplicity of the concept, the idea of ‘House for Trees’ can be multiplied almost anywhere in tropical climate regions. As part of the vast landscape, Ha Long Villa harmonizes with the natural environment. And Ha Long Villa aims to be a space where people return to living surrounded by nature.”

It would be cool to see the passive cooling double-facade concept catch on in other hot places, particularly deserts. Can’t you imagine something like this working in a place like Nevada or Arizona with cacti instead of trees?

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To some, this might seem like a troubling development. What does it say about modern society, that so many of us would choose to close ourselves off to our communities to enjoy our own private oases, with seemingly little care for how unfriendly they might appear from the outside? Psychologists and sociologists might have answers to those questions, and it’ll definitely be interesting to see whether this trend continues to develop in the coming years. But the truth is that many of these “introverted houses” are actually responding to environmental conditions, whether it be harsh climates or densely populated cities where privacy is hard to come by.

And while some seem to have little regard for how they fit into their neighborhoods, others retain a sense of cohesion with the local architectural vernacular, striking a better balance between privacy and interaction.

In Toledo, Spain, architecture firm OOIIO pulled off the latter with “Casa GAS.” This single-family detached residence was designed for a young couple who wanted a comfortable, bright, and unique home that was fully personalized to their needs, from the architecture all the way down to the smallest details. OOIIO oversaw not just the building design but also the interiors, including the final materials, furniture, and lighting.

With its clean lines and almost exclusive use of white, the home projects a sunny disposition that’s well matched to its Mediterranean climate, and, just as importantly, its material palette echoes those of other houses in the neighborhood. Completely walled off from the street, including all outdoor areas, the home is unquestionably inward-facing, but it doesn’t look like a hulking, antisocial bunker, either.

The architects describe the ceramic seen on the roof and within hexagonal tiles on the facade as “the protagonist” of the design, taking inspiration from the traditional patios of La Mancha. The array of hexagonal tiles on the facade is meant to mimic the way dappled light might fall upon it.

And it’s really light that makes the home special in every regard. The courtyards draw natural daylight deep into its subterranean levels, and the single coolest feature, appearing like a secret oasis in the desert, is a shimmering reflecting pool that’s partially open to the sky and partially enclosed.

The firm explains that they decided “to organize the program of the housing project that the clients needed in the most efficient and simple way possible, always around natural light. To do this, the orientation of the plot was studied and the house program was distributed by strategically placing four patios, which are four light wells, four natural ventilation distributors, alternate and distributed throughout the site.”

“Between these patios grow volumes that reach different heights depending on the function they host. Thus, the highest will be the one that corresponds to the most “noble” living-dining room area and the lowest to the garage. But the facades of the patios could not be shown like the rest of the house, they are the raison d’être of the project, the heart of its architecture, that is why we express its importance also in the materials that cover them, playing with some hexagonal ceramic pieces that highlight them and complete the composition of the entire house.”

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It’s that parasitic quality of contrasting new additions that can make them either fascinating or repulsive, depending on your personal perspective. A new structure by OMA manages to capture that feeling, but you wouldn’t know until you get close to it that the base structure isn’t old and historic at all.

“Galleria in Gwanggyo” is an upscale department store set within the brand new town for which it’s named, just south of Seoul, South Korea. From afar, it looks like an old brick or stone industrial building that’s been sitting on the corner for many decades, perhaps vacant and abandoned for a while. The mottling of its facade suggests age and weathering. But against this neutral, textural surface billow strange new glass volumes. There’s a sense that they’re emerging from inside, too, expanding through openings like over-proofed bread dough.

Amazingly enough, the building isn’t old at all. It’s brand new construction, like the rest of Gwanggyo. A new development in a newly built town has no past or cultural heritage to draw from, and in a way, that gives it a sort of soullessness that’s entirely its own. OMA envisions the Galleria as a “natural point of gravity” for public life in the area, with a little bit of faux history bringing a touch of depth.

The firm adds that the building “evokes [the] nature of the neighboring park. Appearing as a sculpted stone emerging from the ground, the store is a visual anchor in the city. A public route is excavated from the stone volume and connects the public sidewalk to a rooftop garden — including both retail and cultural activities. It introduces an innovative element to the traditional typology of a department store.”

“The public route has a multifaceted glass facade that contrasts with the opacity of the stone. Through the glass, retail and cultural activities inside are revealed to the city’s passers-by, while visitors in the interior acquire new vantage points to experience Gwanggyo. Formed with a sequence of cascading terraces, the public loop offers spaces for exhibitions and performances.”

The triangular shapes within those futuristic glass elements are echoed in the textured mosaic stone facade, giving the whole project a sense of cohesiveness that doesn’t quite come together until you’re standing right in front of it. It’s an interesting reflection on the trend of pairing historic and ultramodern architectural elements, and the question of whether inventing a sense of history for new developments can ever really be effective. Do you think the architects achieved their goal?

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According to Louis Vuitton, the flagship Maison Osaka Midosuji draws its dramatic visuals from this sailing vessel to recall Osaka’s history as a seaside town and embody the brand’s “signature Spirit of Travel.”

“Open on February 1st, 2020, the store is the imaginative result of a close collaboration between architects Jun Aoki and Peter Marino, who both share a long-standing relationship with Louis Vuitton,” reads an announcement by the brand. “This new four-floor store reflects Osaka’s heritage as Japan’s most important port and highlight’s the city’s growing role as an international travel hub…Guests gathered on January 29th to celebrate the opening, including Suzu Hirose, Takanori Iwata, Ebizo Ichikawa, Rola, Dean Fujioka, JO1, Dan Carter, Ai Tominaga, Aya Omasa, TAO, and Miki Ehara.”

The architecture of the store is certainly remarkable, and impossible for passersby to ignore. But what’s inside the store is also noteworthy. This location contains Louis Vuitton’s first ever restaurant, “Sugalabo V,” and café, “Le Café V.” A collaboration with Japanese chef Yosuke Sugarbird, the restaurant is set on the top floor of the building, and like everything else associated with the fashion house, it’s painfully exclusive. The space is even hidden behind a secret speakeasy door and can only seat a few diners at a time.

Previously, Aoki designed the logo-patterned Louis Vuitton Matsuya Ginza in an area of Tokyo that was once known for its art deco design. The architect abstracted the brand’s monogram logo to reflect the design history of the area for the facade of the store, which opened in 2014. He explains: “From edo-komon to art deco. Art deco to the soft damier. This is a journey to the history of Ginza. Gentle bulges and dents elaborate the facade of opal beige reliefs. With these patterns, the facade reveals various appearances in sunlight. [At] night, the LED lights behind the reliefs light the facade to render another expression reminiscent of Louis Vuitton’s monogram.”

Marino is also responsible for a series of Louis Vuitton projects, including the one found on London’s Bond Street completed in 2019. His interpretation is modern and colorful, adding bright fixtures and furnishings that aim to evoke “happiness with no feeling of intimidation.” He tells Dezeen that he’s “worked with Louis Vuitton since 1994, and we have moved away from all the brown wood we used at the beginning. There has been a real evolution towards something lighter, clearer, and dare I say, happier.”

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Round houses enjoyed a brief period of public fascination in the 20th century, from Buckminster Fuller’s geodesic domes to kit houses from companies like Deltec Homes, but they never really caught on. Today, they’re generally seen as curiosities. People often think round houses are impractical because it’s harder to fit standard furniture into them. But they don’t have to be.

“Wood House 2.0” by Paris-based studio Marchi Architects is a modern, almost futuristic vision of what a round house could be. Set in a dense forest of pin oak trees in Long Island, New York, the home’s most striking feature is the driveway that rises up from the ground to encircle its roof. If you’re thinking it’s impractical, you may be right. It’s especially hard to tell how the architects imagine the materials and structure of the house supporting the full weight of a car. That’s not to say it wouldn’t work at all, though, as other rooftop driveways exist all over the world.

But even if you remove that feature, the house still offers an interesting perspective on residential architecture. The interior wall is fully transparent, facing a courtyard full of greenery that’s open to the sky above. That brings in plenty of natural light without sacrificing privacy, which means the design could work in an even denser neighborhood, too.

The circular layout of the home creates a continuous path from one living area to the next. There are no dead ends or spaces that feel cut off from the rest. Smaller circular openings cut into the ceiling act as giant skylights and offer a spiral staircase leading from the rooftop to the living room.

The architects paired warm, natural materials like wood with the heavy feeling of concrete for this design, and the result really does feel a bit like a monument. They explain: “Protected from the elements by the surrounding trees, the house provides a comfortable and welcoming space thanks to the careful choice of materials and textures. Facing outward, the facade presents a seamless surface that is punctured at intervals by generous windows that highly fame the views of the surrounding landscape, while the facade facing the inner courtyard space is entirely glazed, blurring the boundary between the interior living space and the hidden central space. The house also plays with symmetry, angles, and textures, and [makes] careful use of light and views.”

Whether or not it’s ever actually built, the Wood House 2.0 is a nice reminder that we don’t have to be limited to thinking inside the box when it comes to our homes and other buildings. It’s fun to imagine what we could come up with if architectural materials continue to evolve, giving us a little more room for creativity within an average project budget.

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But the Swedish company realizes that people in big cities want to stop by, grab what they need, and head home on the bus or subway, so they’ve recently started experimenting with a few new options. In 2019, they opened a few small, boutique-style stores in New York, London, and Paris that allowed customers to see and feel the goods and order them for delivery, but that still didn’t seem to satisfy the desire to actually shop.

Now, in a first for the retailer, a new urban store in Vienna will offer full service right by the Westbahnhof train station. There’s just one catch: there’s absolutely zero parking. That’s kind of the whole point. Designed by Querkraft Architekten, the new seven-story store consists of a bunch of airy, open modular boxes stacked on top of each other, with greenery poking out in every direction. It’s directly marketed to people who will be arriving on foot, bicycle, or public transit.

“The concept focuses on the current mega trends and takes into account the dramatically changed shopping behavior, as well as a new form of mobility without a car,” reads an official company statement. “Customers have little time and appreciate convenience and comfort. This is clearly noticeable in the furnishing [sector]: more and more customers no longer even think about carrying their purchases home themselves. You can have them delivered.”

In fact, the store will deliver large purchases that are difficult to transport within a maximum of 24 hours, so customers will still get the stuff they need fast, albeit (presumably) at an upcharge. But just as much as it will be a traditional retail store, the urban Ikea Vienna location also aims to be a local destination. The large green roof and terraces will offer plenty of spots from which to gaze out at the city, while the store itself will have the usual IKEA cafeteria and concessions.

Querkraft Architekten says they designed the store around two pillars: consumer convenience and sustainability. The large volume of trees on the facade are part of this strategy, implanted in hopes of influencing the local microclimate. The company adds that: “Vegetation is the most important measure in the city of Vienna’s urban heat island strategy. Trailing plants and moss facade elements are further factors which have a cooling and humidifying effect like the trees.”

Construction started on January 7th, 2020, and it’s expected to be complete sometime in 2021. Once open, it’ll be interesting to see how the public reacts to the new setup. Reception is expected to be positive in Vienna, which already has a well-developed and heavily utilized public transit network in place, but can you imagine how different it might be in the United States, where people feel entitled to drive and park personal vehicles wherever they want?

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Completion of Harpa stemmed from the efforts of multiple engineering and design agencies. For starters, Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson designed the south facade, developing the principle for the remaining three and roof in collaboration with Henning Larsen Architects and Batteríið Architects. On top of that, Eliasson designed multiple interior lighting fixtures that work both artistically and functionally in conjunction with the exterior elements.

The concert hall epitomizes the concept of contemporary design with a layered glass facade around its exteriors and roof. The entire design also appears to float above the foundation with very few points of contact. Colors reflect through and from the columns of glass to form a continually eye-catching display.

Not only does this glass structure offer striking visual components, but it also works to reduce lighting costs. That’s because the high quantity of glass creates playful shadows and striking lighting effects all throughout interiors. Of course, this design does work in direct contrast to some functional aspects, so the designers really had to consider how to protect the building from often-harsh Icelandic weather conditions, including rain, snow, sleet, and high winds. In addition to this, the location of Harpa next to a busy road meant the design also had to buffer against vehicle noise from the outside. This was tackled by leaving the sound to Artec Consultants Inc, a US consulting firm responsible for the acoustics and sound design of the main theater, as well as the sound equipment in all the Harpa’s venues.

The icing on the cake of this brilliantly built concert hall is its collection of resident musicians, who bring entertainment, culture, and history to the surrounding community. Current residents include the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Maximus Musikus, the Icelandic Opera, and Reykjavik Big Band.

Local communities aren’t the only ones to acknowledge the structure. Harpa has gone on to win many important awards since its completion, including the prestigious 2012 Mies Van Der Rohe award. Design peer Teglgaard Jeppesen from Henning Larsen Architects responded to the accolade: “On behalf of the team I would like to thank the European Commission and the Fundació Mies van der Rohe for this award. We are immensely honored. Harpa is the result of a collaborative process that has involved many people, and with their efforts, strong commitment, and drive, Harpa has become a symbol of Iceland’s renewed dynamism.”

Wiel Arets, Chair of the Jury for the award, says: “Harpa has captured the myth of a nation — Iceland — that has consciously acted in favor of a hybrid-cultural building during the middle of the ongoing Great Recession. The iconic and transparent porous ‘quasi brick’ appears as an ever-changing play of colored light, promoting a dialogue between the city of Reykjavik and the building’s interior life. By giving an identity to a society long known for its sagas, through an interdisciplinary collaboration between Henning Larsen Architects and artist Olafur Eliasson, this project is an important message to the world and to the Icelandic people, fulfilling their long expected dream.”

The opera’s other notable distinctions include:

USITT Architecture Award 2018

Best Meeting & Conference Centre in Europe 2016 – Business Destinations

Local Favorite Award 2016 – The Culture Trip

Best MICE Centre in Northern Europe 2012

Best Public Space 2012 – Arkitekturmassan Awards

Edinburgh Civic Trust Award 2012

The Cultural Award for Architecture 2012 – Icelandic newspaper DV

The Icelandic Concrete Award 2012

The Icelandic Heating, Ventilating and Sanitary Award 2012

Best Performance Space Design Award 2011 – Travel&Leisure Magazine

Harpa Plaza – the Best Public Nordic Space 2011 – Arkitekturmessan in Gothenburgh

Wayshowing – IIID Awards 2011

One of the 10 Best Concert Halls and Inspiring Structures of the Millennium – Gramophone Magazine 2010

World Architecture Award 2010

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Imagine a structure that’s still got great bones but is looking a little dated or worse for wear. Developers often find it easier to just demolish the whole thing and start over again, but that process produces an outrageous amount of construction waste. Renovation is a far more sustainable approach, especially when the changes are minimal but high impact.

A new project called VITR from Archetonic offers one example of how this can be done. A pre-existing building in Mexico City showed lots of promise but needed some key modifications to be turned into a home and office space that felt integrated with its natural environment.

Walled gardens are common in this part of the city, and while they do offer privacy, they can also make houses feel closed off from the world outside. The architects say they wanted to “shatter the hegemony of the high walls behind which the neighboring houses hide in order to establish a dialogue that transcend[ed] the physical limitations of the project.”

To achieve that, they had to make sure every level of the house had opportunities to view and interact with nature. On the ground level, they created new access points to the yard and expanded views with large expanses of glass. On the second floor, they created new terraces that shade the lower levels from the harsh summer sun.

But by far the coolest (and most impactful) change Archetonic made was the addition of a permeable system of green cables echoing the colors found in the vegetation outside. These plastic cables reference the Acapulco chair: a midcentury modern design inspired by the open string construction of traditional Mayan hammocks.

The cables are attached to the pre-existing steel structure of the building, creating a “living” facade that shimmers in the sunlight, enhances the feeling of being surrounded by nature, and offers a little bit of shade to the interiors without closing them off. On top of that, a new rooftop garden adds yet another way to experience the setting.

All of the steel, stone, and glass of the building come together to produce a feeling that can be a little bit hard and cold, so Archetonic also introduced new timber elements to the interiors to soften them up a bit.

They explain: “The variations in the depths of different planes offer the environment a living facade, where the interior activity is guessed from the visual filters that concede intimacy to the interior spaces. The interior-exterior duality breaks its context’s routine, offering a canvas of textures where the concrete and granite give way to the mildness of the metal and the lightness of plastic fabrics. To the exterior the housing peeks out without invading, whilst opening in the interior [and] subtlety exposing itself, balancing the volumes that are inserted in the territory.”

“An interplay of planes occurs inside allowing the versatility of spaces by the movement of long-distance sliding screens and wainscots formed by timber that contrast in warmth and complexity with the sobriety of the stone coatings and apparent concrete of the enclosures. A new stairway, based on steel strips, reactivates the space where the old one stood, which gave an opportunity to re-signify the ambiance of the circulations as an experience of sculptural character.”

The best part of this architectural makeover is that it doesn’t have to be permanent. In twenty years, if it feels dated or is no longer desired, it can easily be removed and some other facade solution can be implemented in its place.

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Passive solar design is a no-brainer — yet the conventional way to deal with building facades that will be subjected to the hot, unrelenting sun is still just to insulate them, add some blinds, and plan to use a lot of air conditioning. It’s high time more architects and builders consider the ways the sun’s energy will affect a structure, and integrate some simple features that will make its interiors far more comfortable all year long.

Often low-tech and low-cost, passive solar techniques reduce energy costs and maintenance by tailoring designs to the climates around them. Orientation of the roof, windows, and facade with the position of the sun in mind, proper ventilation and insulation, shading, and thermal mass all make a big difference in interior temperatures.

The latter comes into play in a big (and beautiful) way in a new home by Manoj Patel Design Studio. Located in Gujarat, western India, the modern home uses clay roof tiles in an unexpected fashion, displaying them along the east facade in a pleasing pattern. What’s more, 40 percent of the tiles are reclaimed from the waste of other construction projects.

Clay is known for its thermal properties, retaining much of the energy it absorbs to cut down on the need for mechanical heating and cooling. It’s also highly durable, non-toxic, long lasting, and recyclable. Clay tiles on a sunny facade can absorb a lot of heat during the day, releasing it after dark when it’s cooler.

This isn’t the first time Manoj Patel Design Studio has experimented with clay roof tiles. Previously, the designers cut v-shaped clay tiles to create a wavy pattern on the facade of a house in Vadodara, India.

The architects add: “Here the ratio of 40 percent of waste clay tiles at free cost and 60 percent of new clay tiles at 10 INR per piece were collected, cut into six to eight one-inch wide parts, fixed in with [a] chemical solution against the available perpendicular surface of wall at 45 degrees, and crafted into a customized series for obtaining an everlasting beauty… Furthermore, the layering of th[ese] horizontal and vertical clay tiles is [based on] sun’s movement from south to west throughout the day as per Indian context, which keeps the area shaded by reduction in temperature.”

“An illusionist display is casted on the uniform surface of the wall through these angular patterns, which transform the solid form into more organic mass. Thus, this dwelling carved out its own character through contrasting red-colored earthy textures and volumetric masses, becoming a distinguishing dwelling among the surrounding street.”

In 2017, Manoj Patel Design Studio won a first place RTF Sustainability Award for its modular plantable screens made of clay tiles, which can be added to surfaces outside homes in places that receive a lot of solar exposure. Not only can you establish a vertical garden within these tiles, but you can also tuck lights into them for a look that’s even cooler after sunset.

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There are a lot of weird-looking architectural renderings on the internet, and most of them never get built — so it’s kind of fun when some of those proposals end up existing in the real world. L’Arbre Blanc Tower isn’t particularly outlandish, but it’s certainly unusual, and now that it’s complete, it serves as an interesting example of how digital concepts translate to three-dimensional structures.

Its name means “The White Tree,” and it’s easy to see why, though the result ends up looking more like a spiny cactus than branches sprouting from a narrow trunk. Sou Fujimoto Architects collaborated with Nicolas Laisné Associés, Dmitri Roussel/DREAM, and Manal Rachdi Oxo Architects to produce this mixed-use multifamily project for Montpellier, France. Its defining feature is clearly the many cantilevered balconies of varying lengths that protrude from its facade in all directions.

Winner of the 2013 “Folie Richter” competition by the Montpellier city council, which sought a blueprint for a beacon tower to enrich the city’s architectural heritage, the 17-floor L’Arbre Blanc demonstrates a novel way to give all of the inhabitants of an apartment tower access to the outdoors and gorgeous views of the city. On the ground floor is a glass-walled space full of shops and cafés, while the top floor contains a bar that’s open to the public and a common area for residents, so even those who live on the bottom floor can enjoy panoramic vistas.

The balconies act like sun shades, helping to cool the building throughout the day. The architects compare them to “leaves that fold out in search of sunlight… forming a protective veil for the facade.” In offering all of these outdoor spaces as well as access to the rooftop, they hoped to avoid the sort of “inaccessible tower syndrome” often seen in urban high-rise projects. A landscaped park at the ground level extends to the banks of the Lez River.

Unique, modular interior spaces are one of the hallmarks of the tower’s apartments, as the architects imagine a future in which freedom of choice becomes more important than ever when it comes to housing.

“The many balconies and pergolas really do promote outdoor living and enable a new type of relationship between residents,” say the architects. “Each apartment boasts an outdoor space of at least seven square meters (the largest is 35 square meters), with multiple levels of privacy and layout options; residents of the duplex apartments can move from one balcony to the other. So that all apartments have pleasing views, the architects sculpted the blueprint with a series of spatial experiments using physical 3D models.”

“The many technical innovations of L’Arbre Blanc include the terraces, whose cantilevers, which are up to 7.5 meters long, constitute a world first. These exceptional outside spaces are fully-fledged living rooms, which are connected to the dwellings in such a way as to allow residents to live inside and outside, a luxury for a city bathed in the sunshine 80 percent of the year!”

The architects also describe the tower as a cross-cultural endeavor and an interchange between two generations of architects. World-renowned Japanese firm Sou Fujimoto offers its prestige and expertise to youthful French architects while also bringing some of its own cultural aesthetics to the project.

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Of course, the real problem here is buildings that are showy with no meaning connected to their surrounding context. Then there’s buildings like the new Xiqu Centre in Hong Kong, which has quickly become a radiant example of both imagery and substance.

Since January of 2019, Hongkongers have been invited, by the building itself, to experience this new home for traditional Chinese Xiqu opera in the city’s new arts and culture district, West Kowloon Cultural District (WKCD). Indeed, the new building is decidedly cube-like, with curved edges and a facade that resembles the curtains on a stage. At each corner, the curtain wall, a name that carries both technical and symbolic meaning, is pulled back to allow light from the interior to shine outwards, thereby creating an alluring beacon for the public. The center is also meant to be contemporary take on the Chinese Moon Gate.

The firm responsible for the project, Revery Architecture (formerly Bing Thom Architects), designed the silky exterior because they were inspired by the costumes worn by xiqu performers and traditional Chinese lanterns. Within the modular system of bays that make up the “curtains” are 13,000 scales, each cut from extruded aluminum pipe by a CNC machine. The scales were then given their distinct texture using glass beads and connected to frames by stainless steel brackets.

Fabricating the scales, building a mock-up to test them, transporting them to the site, and installing them as a curtain wall was a delicate process that took eight months. In that respect, the seven-story building itself is kind of a performance, with a facade emblematic of curtains hiding the performers as they prepare for a show.

Unlike most performing arts space, the parts of the Xiqu Centre that are accessible to the public are expansive, going way beyond a simple foyer and ticket booth lounge. A large 65-foot-high gate draws the public inside, directing them to a voluminous atrium for exhibitions, workshops, and other public events related to educating people on Xiqu culture. To top it all off, this atrium is open to the public 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The reason that the architects were able to create a 21,000-square-foot, naturally-ventilated interior public space is because the center’s main hall, the 1,073-seat Grand Theatre, is suspended 90 feet above the plaza below by six thick columns and two 20-foot-deep roof trusses. The position of the Grand Theatre has two functions: first, to reduce vibration and noise from the surrounding infrastructure, such as the nearby subterranean high-speed train; and second, to make the building more accessible to the public by creating spaces for programming around the atrium, such as classrooms and stores.

The Xiqu Centre plays a dual role of performer and stage: a work of architecture performing a cultural artform that dates back to the Ming dynasty of a few hundred years ago, and the canvas for its own expression. A contemporary home for an ancient heritage.

The post Pulling Back the Xiqu Centre’s Spectacular Curtain Wall first appeared on Dornob.

From a design perspective, these are just aberrations of unlearnt practitioners. But from the real estate perspective, where the primary focus is profitability, these deviations from the norm are refreshing and ultra-appealing to the worldly client. In the hospitality sector especially, that mix of what the international traveler expects and what the local culture represents can lead to some truly distinguished designs, like at WE Hotel Tōya in Hokkaidō, Japan.

Opened in 2018, this boutique hotel is both a modest reflection of Japanese architecture and a global space of luxury. In contrast to its facade, which looks like it could comfortably fit in anywhere in the world, other parts of the hotel reveal the traditional intricacies worked into its design. This can be seen as soon as the entrance, which itself is lined with cedar logs on the walls.

The ceiling is a multi-layered surface of logs, all of which start at their highest points outside but slowly come down as they approach the corner where guests turn right to enter the hotel. At night, light from below these logs creates a golden hue that makes for a very warm welcome. The entrance, along with the overall facade, signifies the dual personality that WE Hotel Tōya must show the traveler to be successful. Sure enough, the design has done nothing but add to the respect that Kengo Kuma & Associates have earned both abroad and at home

Inside the lobby, pleated cloths are draped to form soft and elegant interiors. Other than the floor, the hardness of the walls and ceilings is completely concealed by the plushness of the backlit fabric, providing a calming area from which to view the tranquil waters of Lake Toya.

The cloth motif carries through to the hotel’s other common areas and hallways, but in the seating area for the EZO Cuisine restaurant and lounge, the fabric is replaced by rigid paper. Folded with the precision of origami, the paper creates lightweight interior surfaces to hide columns and beams. All guests see is the form of a groin vault, but the patterns reminiscent of those from a fan vault. On the window side, each vault shapes a wide semicircle for guests to look out onto the lake while they enjoy their meals and cocktails.

In the TARU Bar, the style is decidedly more contemporary, with barrels being the theme for both the counter and ceiling. The neighboring cigar bar is even more modern, with an aesthetic that would look just as at home in Los Angeles, Milan, or Melbourne.

With the exception of the two bars and the spa, the boutique hotel’s lobby, restaurant, karaoke room, and other common areas have a distinctive Japanese feel. The guestrooms retain the same graceful meekness that Japanese design is known for, while offering all the amenities that guests from South America or Europe would expect.

Guests can also enjoy a bathtub made of hinoki wood on the balcony (with privacy walls on either side, of course) and use the room’s espresso machine before going for their morning walk. These comforts provide the balance to the vernacular of the design, making people feel at home even when they’re miles away from it.

The post WE Hotel Tōya: Where Modern Luxury Meets Japanese Tradition first appeared on Dornob.

Inspiring shock and awe from all passersby, Chinneck’s sculptures playfully reimagine the cities around us, sometimes literally turning buildings on their heads (or so it would appear). The work often requires excavating and re-pouring the entire concrete floors of those buildings, which are frequently vacant, condemned, or abandoned. The idea is to blur the lines between fantasy and reality, prompting viewers to reconsider what’s possible.

“My sculptures playfully disrupt our perception of what is physically possible, but this project has only been possible because of the brilliant people that built it with me,” Chinneck says. “Ambition gives birth to an idea, but collaboration makes it grow.”

A spoonful of sunrise is certainly Chinneck’s most ambitious work to date, created in collaboration with Philip Morris’ IQOS vape brand. Over 200,000 people visited the unzipping building in the six days it was on display.

In a new interview with Juxtapoz, Chinneck explained how he was able to pull off an illusion of such enormous proportions. Whenever possible, he uses real building materials to pull off the final effect, though tricks and materials from the theater trade are also employed on occasion.

“The 17-meter unzipping facade covered two buildings, giving them a new, unified identity,” he says. “To be clear, we rebuilt the entire front — the original buildings were completely concealed. The facade also created an internal corridor behind it that linked the interior spaces. This enabled us to take visitors on a journey, starting outside with the fatigued aesthetic of a seemingly historic Milanese building and then revealing, through a series of openings in its walls and floors, portals to a futuristic world.”

Chinneck initially went to art school for painting but felt frustrated by the fact that he had to choose a focus of study. Wanting to experiment with new materials, methods, and technologies, he ultimately left to work with other artists and learn through practice. Today, he works with architectural consultants and structural engineers to ensure that all his installations are safe. The challenge, he says, is that work of this kind simply hasn’t been done before, so learning on the job is the only way to go.

Other large-scale illusions created by Chinneck have included a house made of wax that melted down over time, a brick facade that seemed to be cracking open, an apartment building facade seemingly sliding down into the yard like a piece of paper, and an upside-down electricity pylon. If you’re ever lucky enough to catch one of these illusions in person, you’ll likely recognize the artist’s work immediately, extraordinary as it may be.

You can keep up with Alex Chinneck’s work by following him on Instagram.

The post Unzipped: Architectural Illusions by Alex Chinneck first appeared on Dornob.