Design Architect: Zerafa Studio llc.
Architect of Record: Chapman Murray Associates Architects Inc.
Structural Engineer: ACA Engineering
MEP: Hallex Engineering LTD.
Size: 5000 gsf.
Status: Completed April 2009
Photography: Tom Arban

Riverhouse is a new single-family home designed by Zerafa Studio llc in Niagara Falls Ontario. The extensive use of Western Red Cedar for decking, wall cladding and soffit cladding was integral to our design, and the inherent flexibility, cost effectiveness and durability of cedar made it the obvious choice for this project, in this location. The relative material richness of the design called for the varied tonality and texture that cedar provides. Read the rest of this entry »

Architect: Nimmrichter CDA Architects
Location: Suburbs of Zurich, Switzerland.
Project members: Rolf Carl Nimmrichter, Dennis Clayton Matthiesen
Site management: Knecht Baumangement, Schlieren
Timber construction: Hector Egger, Langenthal
Interior: Teo Jakob Colombo, Zurich
Year: Commission: 2007, Implementation: 2008
Images: Bruno Helbling, Zurich

In a Zurich municipality, better known for its industrial and shopping facilities, nimmrichter cda compiled a study dealing with the long term development of a plot of land with an existing building on site.  A comprehensive survey of various factors revealed the plot’s development potential for the next generation. Competing against a modular house manufacturer, the unconventional design submitted by Rolf Nimmrichter’s architecture office was awarded the commission. Read the rest of this entry »

Architects: Students of the College of Architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology, led by  Professor Frank Flury
Local architect: Ecker Architekten
Location: Boedigheim, Germany
Client: Protestant Church of Bödigheim
Project year: 2009
Photographs: Robert Piotrowski, Dea Ecker, Klaus Hilger & John Ruffalo, Brigida Gonzalez
Website: Flurkapelle Buchen/Bödigheim

The Field Chapel is a project designed and executed by the students of an Advanced De-sign/Build Studio at the Illinois Institute of Technology College of Architecture in Chicago for a ecumenical church co-operative in Boedigheim, Germany. Led by Professor Frank Flury, the project was assisted on a pro bono basis by the firm of Ecker Architekten (Buchen, Germany) with the craftsmen, volunteer workers and townspeople of the Odenwald/Bauland, a rural region in northern Baden-Württemberg. Read the rest of this entry »

Architect: SsD Architects
Project Type: Single Family Residence
Location: Lexington, Massachusetts, US
Year: 2009

As a prototype building that demonstrates how infrastructural refuse can be salvaged and reused, the structural system for this house is comprised of steel and concrete discarded from Boston’s Big Dig utilizing over 600,000 lbs of salvaged materials from elevated portions of the dismantled I-93 highway. Planning the reassembly of the materials in as if it were a pre-fab system, subtle spatial arrangements are created. These materials however are capable of carrying much higher loads than standard structure, easily allowing the integration of large scale roof gardens. Read the rest of this entry »

Architect: Turnbull Griffin Haesloop
Eric Haesloop, FAIA and Mary Griffin, FAIA, Jerome Christensen, Juliet Hsu
www.tgharchitects.com
Landscape Architect: Jennifer Brooke, Landscape Office, Ltd.
Interior Design: John and Loreta Hornall
Engineer: Mike Forbes, Fratessa Forbes Wong
General Contractor: Ken Sawyer, Micah Sawyer, Sawyer Construction
Photographer: David Wakely, David Wakely Photography
Year: 2008

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Project Specification
Location: Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan
Purpose of the Building: Single Family Residential
Structure of the Building: 2-Story Wooden Structure
Site Area: 379.58 m2
Building Area: 193.77 m2
Total Floor Area: 226.06 m2
Design: Yoshichika Takagi (Sekkei-Sha)
Construction: Daisuke Hasegawa (Daisuke Hasegawa & Partners)

Located in Sapporo-Japan, this wooden residence was designed by Japanese architect Yoshichika Takagi. Called House K, the interior is divided by a series of wooden structures with pitched roofs. The project forms platforms and mezzanines on top of the house-shaped rooms, which are arranged around a central kitchen. Read the rest of this entry »

Project: Winery Casa da Torre
Client: Manuel Sousa Lopes
Location: Louro – Vila Nova de Famalicão – Portugal
Architecture: Carlos Castanheira & Clara Bastai, Arqtos Lda.
Team: Orlando Sousa
Consultancies: Paulo Fidalgo, Eng. Civil
HDP Gabinete Projectos. Engenharia Civil, Lda.
Project Date: 2008-2009
Photography: Fernando Guerra FG + SG – Fotografia de Arquitectura

Portuguese architects Castanheira & Bastai have designed the Adega Casa da Torre, a winery in Louro, Vila Nova de Famalicão, Portugal.

Description of Adega Casa da Torre by Carlos Castanheira

A winery is no longer what it used to be. I once knew wineries where cobwebs and dust, were the sign of time passing and of the times. Time was also, almost always, the sign of quality, as the wine that got preserved over time, at the time, was good wine, which got even better after being left there for a few years. Read the rest of this entry »

The Dutch design studio AEQUO have designed an informatieplein (information plaza) inside the Culture Campus Vleuterweide in Utrecht, The Netherlands. The Informatieplein is shaped as the interior space of a monastery. It contains one large monastery bench, which comprises a multitude of functions upon closer inspection.

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