Houses: The Latest Architecture and News

+ 10

+ 20

+ 12

With shelters and settlements in northern Canada currently undergoing a housing crisis due to decadent construction and energy costs, the corresponding ramifications on overcrowding and deprivation have resulted. What the Drift House aims to do is hybridize the intelligence of tradition and technology of both housing systems to offer direction on future constructions in the Arctic. Designed by Neeraj Bhatia of The Open Workshop, this housing prototype for northern climates proposes a series of snow fences that passively utilize snowdrift to form a new dwelling type by calibrating the snow fences with differential mesh openings and height. More images and architect's description after the break.

+ 13

+ 6

+ 6

Videos

+ 9

+ 9

+ 7

+ 20

+ 8

+ 6

+ 8

+ 25

+ 12

Toyo Ito was commissioned for this building by his older sister after her husband sadly lost his battle with cancer in the 1970s. Having lived for a number of years in a high-rise apartment, she and her two young daughters wished to move to a site which had more connection to the ground; as luck would have it, the site next to Ito's own house was being sold at the time.

Setting new standards of sustainability through the design of the Passive House "Bruck", Peter Ruge Architekten’s project is a model apartment complex, consisting of 36 one room staff flats, 6 two room executive suites and 4 three-bedroom model apartments currently being built in southern China. With a 95% energy savings over that of a conventional Chinese residential building, the project is the first housing of its kind to be realized in the countries damp, warm, southern climate. Construction just began last month and is expected to be completed within the upcoming months. More images and architects’ description after the break.