Water-Cooled House

Wallflower Architecture + Design won an award in the Independent house category at 10. Design Award of Architects in Singapore. This project is hidden from the eyes of the passers-by as it is surrounded by trees and bushes. The owner had wanted a contemporary home that prioritized environmental coolness to be able to enjoy the luscious tropical surroundings. The supporting structure was designed to offer maximal possible open space and a panoramic view. Inside, the house is full of ponds which are the natural cooling feature for the whole space. A beautiful spiral staircase leads to the roof. An interesting feature of the house is also a circular window in the roof through which the sun rays go through the water and light the main entrance.

22 Beach House

JSA Architects created the 22 Beach House located at sloping terrain on a beach 50 kms from Lima, the capital of Peru. It is composed of four beach apartments for the members of the same family and each apartment is divided from the other by its own volume. The plot of land offers spectacular views of the coast. The common area for all members of the family includes a swimming pool, living room, patio, kitchen and services. The architects wanted to integrate the apartments while keeping them as independent volumes, keeping their individuality. Each apartment is therefore different, not only the exterior but mostly the interior. The house offers wide open spaces with movable closings that permit fading out the interior-exterior relation. This house won 2010 Silver Medal Award at the Biennial of Mexican Architecture.

Tasmanian Beauty or The Winged House

The Winged House in Taple Cape in Tasmania resembles a silver bird with widespread wings watching the Tasmania’s rugged coastline. The breath-taking roof and the construction designed by Richard Goodwin leaves a deep impression in each visitor. The house features two bedrooms, gourmet kitchen, Japanese bathroom, 180-degree ocean views and easy access to the Tasmania’s World Heritage wilderness. It is a place for spiritual rest and relaxation, a place where you can be by yourself only surrounded by wild nature, a place created for writers and artists who could capture its magical vibrations.

Shell House

A house resembling a shell, wrapping or some kind of a case was built in Hiratsuka in Japan by the studio Far East Design Lab. Originally as if double-sloping roof was deformed in such a way that one side interlocks with the other while stability is assured by steel posts. The side walls are also bent into various angles but the house does not lose its simplicity as it might seem on the first sight. The front and back part is completely open and glazed to the exterior. This interesting shape creates dynamic interior space. Textures and materials of different kinds are added. Although the house is placed in a dense neighborhood it is definitely not to be overlooked.

Fundacio Antoni Tapies

The first goal of the renewal of the Fundació Antoni Tàpies was the necessity to adapt the building to new safety regulations, an overall improvement of the complex, opening up the historic building to the public with new exhibition, archive and educational areas. But the newly reconstructed building seeks, above all, help to consolidate a new generation of museums as centers of cultural production, presenting multi-spatiality, adapted to the diversity of artistic practices. The building built by Lluís Domènech i Montaner between 1881 and 1884 (later intervention between 1987-1990) includes now a roof garden which is a possible exposition space.

Glass House

A building with a characteristic name “Glass House” has grown directly in the centre of the Port Macquarie city in Australia. It is a centre for arts and culture which includes an art gallery, a theatre and a community workshop place. The project was executed by the group Tonkin Zulaikha Greer Architects or TZG Architects for short. The whole exterior façade is made out of glass and steel construction so that the building can communicate with its surroundings. The interior is very cozy and quiet. The way the acoustics was worked in the theatre and the conference room seems to be fantastic and over-elaborated.

Grand opening of the tallest tensile structure in the world

The grand opening of the Khan Shatyr Entertainment Centre was recently held in Kazakhstan. This world’s tallest tensile structure was designed by UK-based architectural firm Foster + Partners. People can visit the centre anytime during the year whatever the weather. The Khan Shatyr Entertainment Center was officially opened in the presence of President Nazarbayev. The ceremony took place on President’s birthday and Astana Day. Astana is the place where the centre is located. The building encloses an area in excess of 100 000 and offers a wide range of activities, including urban-scaled park, entertainment and leisure facilities, cafes, shops, restaurants, cinemas, water park and flexible spaces that can accommodate a varied programme of events and exhibitions. Enjoy the beautiful panoramic views of the city.

Architect office

The Lebanese architect Paul Kaloustian studied at Harvard and then worked for Herzog and de Meuron. This architect has recently designed his own office and the Chammas chalet in Libanon. The new location of the office is in a former factory, in the capital of Libanon, in Beirut. The design intention is based on creating an airy and at the same time abstract space. The essence of the interior is the white colour where the means for discrimination of lines and shapes is mostly light, whether natural or artificial in the form of various lights. It could seem that such space gives impression of sterility and coldness but that is not the case. Plants added to the interior wonderfully refresh the atmosphere. The Chammas chalet is designed in a similar way. Probably its most interesting feature is the zigzag roof designed to give the space a sense of tension and dynamism.

322 Residence

This residence in Iowa city built in 1941 has been expanded several times over the intervening decades. It used to be a bigger mass housing complex hidden in between tall trees. The main aim of the new renovation of the building was to liberate it from the trees but also organise the interior spaces as their space arrangement was very chaotic. The architectonic studio Substance architecture simplified and expanded the house which now resembles a larger hut in the forest thanks to its simplicity the architects staked on. The roof slope was increased to increase the ceiling of the rooms on the top floor where each of them has a skylight. These together with the windows on the ground floor create a harmonizing structure which is underlined by attractive design of the terrace on the ground floor. The interior is similarly direct as the exterior. In the interior the emphasis was put on usage of simple and natural materials which make the space airy and light.

Superbude hotel in Hamburg

Superbude hotel in Hamburg by the architect Armin Fisher from the studio Dreimeta. He created a concept of a hotel where the visitor becomes the visited. With a licence to party you can stay up all night long without the annoying neighbours. The hotel was built following the idea of sustainability. You can find here old water pipes which have been screwed together to create shelves and tables or sofas covered with used jeans. The hotel offers 74 stylish double and multi-bed rooms. They are refreshing, modern and simple. The six floors of a former printing house were redesigned to offer relaxing moments to each visitor.