The architecture and design blog

Photo: View of the south elevation. AKAA / Omid Khodapanahi.

It is not often we get to see the interesting work being created in Iran because of political reasons. So it is with some satisfaction that we get a glimpse of this apartment building in Mahallat, designed by Tehranian practice, AbCT – Architecture by Collective.

It uses a beautiful local stone for the exterior, as well as some interior walls, which imprts a rich and beautiful quality to the building. More importantly perhaps, the building has had a disproportionate impact on the environment and the local economy.

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Photos: Marc Cramer.

Exquisitely made and impeccably detailed, the Beaufort House cuts through design superfluity like a freezing wind feels to cut through the body.

Located in a mixed-use neighbourhood, consisting of industrial and residential buildings, the Architect Henri Cleinge, chose to eschew the usual typology of ground and first floor apartments in favour of a taller building with apartments on the ground and second, and on the second and to third floors, allowing solar exposure on three sides of each dwelling.

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Photos: Kai Nakamura.

This small family house is conceived around a very simple idea: to frame a particular view. The architects, mA-style, have taken this idea, and from it developed an exciting and bold form that has just a hint of Corbusian monocular vision in its powerful sculptural arrangements.

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Photos: Sebastián Crespo.

Pleased to feature a post of a project from Ecuador, the G1 house is located in Guayllabamba and was designed by Gabriel Rivera Architects. Completed late in 2012 it explores the idea that an emblem of nature’s bounty, provider of food and good fortune, here represented by a 12m high avocado tree, can be the starting point of an architectural discourse that also draws on themes inspired by ecclesiastical architecture. Read more

Photos: Steve Troes fotodesign.

In a Luxembourg suburb, this small apartment building designed by Metaform Architecture, contains seven residential units. It achieves a significant increase in the density of the built fabric, whilst at the same time fitting quietly in to the suburban context in terms of scale and massing. This has been achieved by individualizing each apartment as much as possible thus breaking down what might otherwise appear as an out of context monolith. Read more