The Portuguese practice of OODA have prepared this draft for the central library of Helsinki Finland. Conscious of the need to reinvent the library archetype, if it is to remain relevant in the internet age, the practice have proposed a plethora of different functions combining cultural and entertainment features. Read more
Photos: Hertha Hurnaus.
London’s Plasma Studio Architects have recently completed this small block of six luxury residences in the Dolomite mountains of northern Italy. The building is essentially conceived as a vernacular house of the region, with a double pitched roof. The entire volume looks as though it has been sliced, pushed and moulded to fit comfortably within the topography of the land.
Whilst unmistakably contemporary and unique, the building carries the spirit of the local vernacular without ever quoting from the elements that define it, save for the familiar building materials of larch and copper. Read more
Photo credits: 2by4-architects.
This small recreational house designed by 2by4 in the Netherlands has a traditional pitched roof exterior form with an unusual fully glazed end wall. The glass wall slides open, whilst the wooden wall also folds back producing a vanishing corner and meaning that the wooden floor of the interior goes right to the edge of the lake.
In the main space is a suspended fire pod that can be rotated towards the external decking so can be used internally or externally to keep away the chill on late summer evenings. Read more
Photos: JoséCampos.
An old ruined house, that was divided into three small floors, has been transformed with a simple and elegant conversion from a ramshackle property into a beautiful family home. Located in Matosinhos, Portugal it was designed by Rui Cerqueira Barros.
From the street, the house reads as two distinct volumes. The old house in what appears like a grey render and a new timber-clad thin volume to the side. The tall proportion to this volume is exaggerated by what looks like a tall thin front door. The door, which is actually half the height it appears to be, counters what would otherwise be the mundanity of the squarish garage door. This play with proportion raises the house from the ordinary into a house with a touch of style. Read more
Photos: Steve Montpet.
In parts of Canada and Scandinavia it seems that almost everybody has a second home in the forest or beside a lake. The beginnings of such houses can often be traced to a fishing hut, a hunting lodge, or a log cabin that provided primitive shelter for hunters and foragers in their quest to find food. As foraging trips became a drive to the supermarket, cabins were used more in a recreational capacity. A place for city dwellers to reacquaint themselves with the land. As general living standards improved, so did the facilities in the cabin. Central heating, showers, double glazing and a fitted kitchen were all added to the cabins, often in a lumpen and haphazard way.
La Luge by YH2 is a progression of this trend. As architecture, it is an elegant and sophisticated rendering of a forest dwelling, but what makes it so exciting and desirable is that it caries the spirit of the log cabin, and with it a chance to be close to nature whilst enjoying the sumptuousness of a city penthouse apartment. Read more
