Description from Foscarini:

Visible concrete is part of the language of modern architecture and, with Aplomb, Foscarini presents a model that uses this material with completely new and innovative technology. The material is translated, from large-scale architecture to a small suspension light, for interiors making it an elegant product with a simple formality, inspired by a material that has always been linked to the world of construction. This is what also inspires its name: Aplomb, a plumb-bob traditionally used by masons. However, aplomb also means ‘self-possessed, confident’, like this lamp that distances itself from aseptic minimalism with all the material richness of concrete. Read the rest of this entry »

Architect: Kingma Roorda architects
Location: Poortkade and Oosterscheldestraat, Zierikzee, The Netherlands
Design team: Ruurd Roorda, Klaas Kingma, Bas Kegge, Roelof Verheijen, Frank Velthuis, Niels van Ham
Urban plan: Rothuizen van Doorn ’t Hooft, Breda/Middelburg/Poznan
Project Area: 2,126 sqm (building 1), 1,545 sqm (building 2)
Completion construction: 2010 (building 1), 2012 (est.)
Photographs: René de Wit, Breda / Kingma Roorda architects, Rotterdam

This project, situated just west of the historical center of Zierikzee, links up the existing neighbourhood Poortambacht to the historic town. Both as a reaction to the specific character of the site and as a response to today’s diverging lifestyles, the design for this new quay, parallel to a canal, can be seen as a reinterpretation of the quay typologies that can be found through the provinces of Zeeland and Holland. Read the rest of this entry »

Just by looking at the mind-boggling New Norwegian National Opera and Ballet in Oslo, an architectural cliff on the edge of a fjord, you might think there’d be a lot of dense archibabble floating around at the firm Snøhetta.  I have been paying closer attention to them out here in San Francisco, after hearing rumors that they are in the running for the SFMOMA extension in partnership with locals EHDD. So it was doubly refreshing to hear one of the two principals, Craig Dykers, give a presentation about the firm last Friday at the AIA SF offices that was not only highly intelligible but often humorous: many choice quotes have been posted elsewhere on the Dwell blog.

Dykers searched Flickr and YouTube to find photos  and videos that people have taken of the firm’s buildings, including one (very daring) video of a stunt cyclist climbing the opera house.

Via Archpaper

Architects: Olgga Architects
Location: Nantes, France
Client: Le Lieu Unique
Consultants: Home Bois Distribution
Project Area: 22 sqm
Project Year: 2009
Photographs: Fabienne Delafraye & Olgga Architects

The flake house, a nomadic, road-gauged dwelling, has been conceived to clad the places wherever it lands, as to transpose theses in an unusual vision. A poetical shelter, a “folie”,that merges low-tech and hi-tech. The interior finish is smooth and stripped down as to contrast with the traditional look of the external log cladding.

Created in 2006 for the competition “Petites machines à habiter” held by the CAUE 72, OLGGA’ proposal for this nomadic wooden shelter is based on the concept of the «folie», where the wooden structure is broken in two halves establishing a radical spatial boundary while materializing an unexpected entry sequence. Read the rest of this entry »

The American Institute of Architects, San Francisco chapter (AIA San Francisco) announces the winners of the 2010 AIA San Francisco Design Awards program. The winners were revealed and celebrated last night at a special gala held at the San Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center. The emcees for the evening were Sarah Lynch, Editor in Chief, California Home + Design and Bill Roger, 2010 AIA San Francisco Board President.

At the gala, winners were recognized for their outstanding contributions to the built environment in the categories of Architecture and Interior Architecture, Energy + Sustainability, Historic Preservation and Innovation in Rehabilitation, Integrated Project Delivery, Young Architects and Associates, Unbuilt Design, and Urban Design in the Bay Area. Each of these award categories was divided into three subcategories—Honor, Merit, and Citation. In addition, awards for Special Achievement were also presented. Read the rest of this entry »

Metropolis is a quirky and very abridged narrative history of the city of Charlotte, North Carolina. It uses stop motion video animation to physically manipulate aerial still images of the city (both real and fictional), creating a landscape in constant motion. Starting around 1755 on a Native American trading path, the viewer is presented with the building of the first house in Charlotte. From there we see the town develop through the historic dismissal of the English, to the prosperity made by the discovery of gold and the subsequent roots of the building of the multitude of churches that the city is famous for. Now the landscape turns white with cotton, and the modern city is ‘born’, with a more detailed re-creation of the economic boom and surprising architectural transformation that has occurred in the past 20 years. Read the rest of this entry »

Architects: HVDN
Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Project Team: Arie van Der Neut, Albert Herder, Vincent van Der Klei, Monika Pieroth, Pascal Bemelmans
Structural Engineering: Jean-Marc Saurer, Vincent van Der Klei
Client: Hopman Interheem Groep Gouda
Project Year: 2004-2008
Budget: € 17.000.000
Photographs: John Lewis Marshall, Luuk Kramer & Jean-Pierre Jans

The Science Park is hemmed in between the Flevopark, the neighborhood of the Indische buurt and the Amsterdam-Almere railway line. Until recently, the site was occupied by allotments alongside research institutes and science and technology companies. The allotments are to be replaced by five new residential buildings situated in a park-like environment of restricted traffic speeds. Car-parking is located within the buildings so the area’s appearance is not defined by on-street parking. As ‘Het Kasteel’ (the castle) stands at the entrance to the project, on the west side facing the city, it acts as its calling card. Read the rest of this entry »

Architect: Valerio Olgiati
Location: Scharans, Switzerland
Collaborators: Nathan Ghiringhelli (project manager office Olgiati), Nikolai Müller, Mario Beeli
Client: Linard Bardill, musician + poet
Structural Engineer: Patrick Gartmann, partner of Conzett, Bronzini, Gartmann AG, Chur
Project Area: 285 sqm
Project Year: 2006-2007
Photographs: Courtesy of Valerio Olgiati

The Atelierhouse Bardill replaces an old barn in the protected centre of the village Scharans. The building permission was granted by the local authorities only under the condition that the new building would have exactly the same volume as the old barn. Read the rest of this entry »

Architect: BIG
Location: Shanghai, China
Creative Director: Bjarke Ingels
Partner-in-Charge: Finn Norkjaer
Team: Tobias Hjortdahl, Jan Magasanik, Claus Tversted, Henrick Poulsen, Niels Lund Petersen, Kamil Szoltysek, Sonja Reisinger, Anders Ulsted, Jan Borgstrom, Pauline Lavie, Teis Draiby, Daniel Sundlin, Line Gericke, Armen Menendian, Karsten Hammer Hansen, Martin W. Mortensen, Kenneth Sorensen, Jesper Larsen, Anders Tverste
Size: 3.000m2

BIG celebrates the grand opening of the Danish Expo Pavilion 2010. The Danish pavilion at EXPO 2010 will give visitors the opportunity to try some of the best aspects of Danish city life themselves. Through interaction, the visitors are able to actually experience some of Copenhagen’s best attractions – the city bike, the harbor bath, playground settings, a picnic on the roof garden and the opportunity to see the authentic H.C Andersen’s Little Mermaid.

“When we visited the World Exhibition in Zaragoza, we were stunned by the artificial content. State propaganda in paper maché. The Danish Expo pavilion 2010 is the real deal, and not just endless talking. You can ride the city bike, take a swim in the harbor bath, and see the real Little Mermaid”, Founder of BIG, Bjarke Ingels. Read the rest of this entry »

Architect: MacGabhann Architects
Team Credits: Tarla MacGabhann, Antoin MacGabhann, Niels Merschbrock & Barry Maguire
Completed: 2006-2007
Awards: Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland, Public Choice Award
Best house 2008 Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland, Irish Architecture Awards 2008
Photographic Credits: Dennis Gilbert

Standing vigilant over a northern Fjord in Ireland, the Tuath na Mara Residence, by MacGabhann Architectsappears solid as a rock. Zinc clad for resilience, the low slung house blends seamlessly into the heather-covered rocky landscape, its own seams, echoing the strata of surrounding rocks. Contrasting a well hunkered core, the roof line warps and twists upwards like wonderful grey weathered seaweed, revealing the surrounding views to the living areas. Read the rest of this entry »