Such is the purity of the architectural expression, that it seems almost transgressive that this building should ever be used. To critically enquire of it, however superficially, seems like an attack on virginal innocence itself.
Architectural purity however, is begotten not from mystic union, but rather from clarity of analysis and unstinting application. Campo Baeza working in collaboration with Pablo Fernández Lorenzo, Pablo Redondo Díez, Alfonso González Gaisán and Francisco Blanco Velasco shows us how. Read more
Photos: Shinichi Ogawa & Associates.
Any lover of traditional books will eventually come across the same conundrum: what to do with them all? Shinichi Ogawa, the architect for this house in Tochigi, Japan, designed a house around a library wall some 6.5m tall. In so doing, he made a clear statement about his client which he carried through other architectural details in the design. Read more
Spanish minimalist Fran Silvestre Architects takes advantage of the strong Spanish sunlight to define bold, sculptural cubic forms and a sloping topography that unexpectedly allows daylight to enter the basement of this striking house.
The plan has an “L” shaped configuration that part encloses a pool on two sides leaving open a view over the Sierra Calderona mountains. Read more
Images and photos: Ikimono Architects.
Glimpsing into a person’s soul is often thought of as a religious preoccupation. So when an artist or architect creates a piece of work, essentially for themselves, is it possible to see what makes the spirit and philosophy of the practice? Yes, I believe it is. So in that spirit, lets take a glimpse into the studios and home of Ikimono Architects.
The building is of great simplicity, four walls and a glass roof. A large volume of space with large windows that connects the space intimately with the exterior. But within that rule -set or architectural framework is a richness of possibility and presence of mind that allows the exploration and enjoyment of the seasons. It enables the discovery of a way of living and of working. The possibility of living closer to nature within an unpromising urban environment. Read more
Photo: Ulrich Schwartz
The beautiful stone circles created by the artist Richard Long in the mid 1990s exploit the tension created when naturally rugged, or roughly shaped stones are arranged into a circle whose purity and simplicity looks incongruous or at least unnatural. The power in this tension is riveting. How can this be architecturally translated?
Well this building, a youth centre designed by Atelier Kermpe Thil, looks nothing like Long’s work, but achieves a similar kind of tension with its plain, though not pristine, white box that appears to sit on a crystalline glass structure below. Read more
