LA-based practice Bunch Design was founded by Bo Sundius & Hisako Ichiki with a focus on light, materials and structure. At the core of their work is a desire to build in more mindful ways, making spaces that enrich everyday life. Recently, the duo have launched BunchADU to create custom and pre-designed Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) that can address pressing issues of housing.
In architecture, one of the challenges faced by professionals is the design with sloping terrain. The steep slopes make it possible to think of an architecture that faces this context, being an opportunity to work in contact with the place, the spatiality, the visuals and the different heights.
Peru in the western and central part of South America, with its multiple geographical conditions in its three large regions -coast, andean and jungle-, has an architecture that is particularly committed to its landscape. The range of varied solutions has a unique and contextual architecture. The following list shows 10 residential projects in Peru, which reveal diverse architectural approaches.
Rugs are not items that usually go unnoticed in residential environments. In addition to warming the environment and making them more cozy, when used correctly, rugs connect the furniture and give unity to the decor. Here are some tips on how to properly size and choose this item in your home.
Construction has begun at 126 East 57th street, a project designed by architecture office ODA, with interiors designed by Gambellini Sheppard. On 57th street, a copper mirrored gateway leads residents through the 6-story atrium and toward the 28-story residential tower. The site spans the width of a city block from 56th to 57th street and the proposed tower measures 175,000 square feet, complete with private outdoor terraces for every unit, as the pixelated cast-in-place concrete façade recesses at irregular intervals.
Fortunately, architecture has the power to solve numerous issues of the modern world and how we live in it, and there are infinite ways of doing so. However, not all architecture is effective in providing solutions while also being sensitive and thought-provoking. With a portfolio that is getting richer every year, SO–IL, an architecture practice based in New York City, has proven that buildings can actually do this and much more.
HA-HA, in partnership with BIK Bouw and Wooncompas Housing, will develop four social housing blocks for the community of Ridderkerk, near Rotterdam, Netherlands. The project uses materials from the existing social housing estate, built in the 1950s, and employs an innovative modular-timber system to create sustainable human-centered housing. The old buildings are planned to be disassembled and their components reused and integrated into the new development, which will increase the number of affordable units by 13%.
Dutch architecture firm Mecanoo has unveiled the design of what will soon become the tallest high-rise ensemble in the city of The Hague, in the Netherlands. Dubbed "The Grace", the project consists of two towers, one at 150 meters high and the other at 180 meters, becoming the tallest high-rise ensemble in the city. The residential project comes as a response to the growing demand for affordable housing, as well as fostering an enhanced sense of community.
The region we know today as the Metropolitan Zone of the Valley of Mexico (ZMVM) has had a continuous and dynamic occupation for more than 4,000 years. Archaeological and anthropological evidence reveals the presence of complex human societies on the banks of the lake basin, starting with Tlatilco and Cuicuilco in the Preclassic period, passing through Teotihuacan in the Classic period, and culminating with the different urban centres of Nahua affiliation in the Postclassic period, with the cities of Mexico Tenochtitlan-Tlatelolco, as well as Texcoco, Azacapotzalco, Iztapalapa and Chalco, among many others, undoubtedly standing out.
New York City is defined by its architecture, and in turn, diverse ways of living. As the nation's "metropolis," it has also faced some of the most challenging housing problems of any American city. From single-family homes to high-rise residential towers, housing has evolved at different paces and scales throughout the boroughs. In turn, each district and county is home to a wide range of residential styles and housing solutions.
UNStudio has been announced as the winner of the international competition "Un Iași pentru Viitor" to design a new residential district in the historical center of Iași, Romania. For this competition, organized by Iulius company, four offices have been invited to participate, Foster + Partners, MVRDV, UNStudio, and Zaha Hadid Architects. The main challenge of the competition brief was designing a building well integrated into a complex urban environment marked by historic monuments of different ages, new archeological discoveries, and open public spaces and gardens. The winning proposal, titled „Bridging Time, Bridging Communities,” aims to offer a coherent response to the particularities of the site.
This article was originally published on Common Edge.
There are extraordinary connections between the natural world and the capacity for creativity in human beings. In his book Last Child in the Woods, journalist and author Richard Louv observes: “Nature inspires creativity in a child by demanding visualization and the full use of the senses. Given a chance, a child will bring the confusion of the world to the woods, wash it in a creek, turn it over to see what lives on the unseen side of that confusion.” He concludes that in nature, “a child finds freedom, fantasy, and privacy: a place distant from the adult world, a separate peace.” The architect Frank Harmon likewise wrote touchingly about the outdoors, woods, and water as perfect settings for cultivating a thirst for learning and discovery: “Children raised by creeks are never bored. Creek children don’t know about learning by rote, neither are they conditioned to working nine to five. Berries are their first discoveries, and birds’ nests, and watching the stars come out. Later they discover books. To creek children, learning is discovery, not instruction.”
Architecture, as a profession, is highly cyclical in nature. It ebbs and flows with the tides of economic conditions, and is especially hard hit during times of downturn. We’ve all heard stories or experienced it ourselves, or layoffs during the Great Financial Crisis in 2008, or even more recently the significant cutbacks architecture firms went through during the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic. Projects went on hold and new business opportunities declined almost overnight. Now, two years later, firms are keeping a close watch on global supply chain issues and rising inflation rates, especially with increased pressure to meet the needs of a growing urban population. Will architecture be recession-proof as we enter a bear market?
The first edition of the UIA 2030 Award celebrated projects that contribute to the delivery of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Located in Germany, Hong Kong, Argentina, Bangladesh, and China, the winning interventions were announced during the eleventh session of the World Urban Forum in Katowice, Poland. Organized by the International Union of Architects (UIA), together with the UN-HABITAT, the award program gathered 125 submissions in 40 countries.
ArchDaily had the chance to talk to the winners behind the acclaimed architecture, to discuss furthermore the interventions and certain specificities of each and every project. In addition, the winning teams shared their upcoming and ongoing architectural endeavors as well as their point of view on the importance of architects engaging with the Sustainable Development Goals.
Today, at the eleventh session of the World Urban Forum in Katowice, Poland, the International Union of Architects (UIA), together with the UN-HABITAT, have announced the laureates of the UIA 2030 Award. Seeking to acknowledge the contributions of architects to the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and New Urban Agenda through built interventions that demonstrate design quality and alignment with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), this first edition of a biennial awards program, selected winning projects from Germany, Hong Kong, Argentina, Bangladesh, and China, from 125 submitted projects in 40 countries.
Organized under six categories: Open Category, Improving Energy Efficiency, Adequate, Safe & Affordable Housing, Participatory, Land-Use Efficient & Inclusive Planning, Access to Green & Public Space, and Utilizing Local Materials, the jurors picked a winner per section, yet were unable to identify an overall winner in the open category and chose instead to recognize six projects as Highly Commended, honoring in total 5 laureates and 15 commendations.
Seoul, similar to numerous large cities across the globe, are characterized by land scarcity, overpopulation, staggering real estate prices, and urban segregation. These living conditions forced architects and urban planners to pursue alternatives, (re)introducing new models of co-living, low-cost housing in suburban areas, and mixed-use developments. However, proximity to work, educational, commercial, health facilities, and public transportation, as well as optimized infrastructure and better governance have sustained living within compact city boundaries desirable. Tucked within the busy streets of Gangseo-gu, Five Story House by stpmj is a project that explores the relationship between single-family housing and dense urban contexts beyond investment value and contextual constraints.
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Designed for an insurance company, The Centraal Beheer building by Herman Hertzberger in Apeldoorn, Netherlands, is widely recognized as one of the high points of the structuralist movement. MVRDV, in consultation with Herman Hertzberger’s office AHH, is transforming the celebrated building, making it the centerpiece of a new sustainable residential neighborhood while preserving its structure and core principles. The project is part of a larger area of development, a three-hectare site near the city’s train station. MVRDV’s design proposal introduces approximately 650-800 homes while keeping the focus on preservation, greening, and innovation.
This article was originally published on Common Edge
Four years ago, the Pritzker Prize–winner Tadao Ando spectacularly converted a 1920s apartment building in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago into exhibition spaces for a gallery named—in deference to its street address—Wrightwood 659. The gallery is currently staging a resourceful exhibition on wood-frame construction, the method by which more than 90% of U.S. houses are built.
Rarely has wood-framing been the subject of an architectural show. It’s too mundane a topic—or at least it seemed that way until two associate professors at the University of Illinois Chicago, Paul Andersen and Paul Preissner, conceived the American Framing exhibition for the U.S. Pavilion at the 2021 Venice Architecture Biennale. One year after Venice, the much talked-about exhibition makes its American debut at Wrightwood 659.
_Domat.jpg?1656485110 "Home modification for low-income Families. Image Courtesy of Domat Architects")
.jpg?1656485127 "Co-creation of Urban Spaces by the Nobogonga River. Image Courtesy of Co.Creation.Architects, Jhenaidah Citywide People's Network, Platform of Community Action and Architecture (POCAA), Community Architects Network (CAN)")
.jpg?1656364895 "Co-creation of Urban Spaces by the Nobogonga River. Image Courtesy of Co.Creation.Architects, Jhenaidah Citywide People's Network, Platform of Community Action and Architecture (POCAA), Community Architects Network (CAN)")
.jpg?1656064406 "© Bae Jihun")
.jpg?1655422503 "Herman Hertzberger - Centraal Beheer offices, Apeldoorn (1968-1972). Image via AHH, used under terms of \"fair use\"")
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