Archinect - Features

The University of Texas at Austin's Green Core Studio Explores Sustainable Energy Production in Residential Building Design

2022-09-29T12:35:00-04:00

Design studios are one of the core components of an architectural education. Through the guidance and expertise of dedicated faculty members, students are taught the skills and design perspectives needed to navigate architecture studios.

Studios encourage students to explore new ways to design, prototype, think, and build. To bring closer attention to architecture studios, their committed instructors, and the exciting work being developed, we present Archinect Studio Pin-Ups, a new series highlighting architecture studios focusing on new and thought-provoking topics.

To kick off the series, we dive into the University of Texas at Austin's Advanced Spring 2022 Studio - Green Core, led by Jing Liu (Visiting Professor and co-founder of SO–IL) and Claire Townley (UT Austin Alumn '19 and Associate Architect at Pollen Architecture & Design).

The Yves Béhar-Designed ADU and the Complicated Altruism of the “Fully-Customizable Prefab”

2018-11-13T12:00:00-05:00

My invitation to interview industrial designer Yves Béhar about his first step into architecture, an immaculately designed Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU), brought me to a design festival of unprecedented scale and wealth.

Held in the historic core of Downtown Los Angeles - a neighborhood physically and economically between the Financial District and Skid Row - Summit LA18 was a three day festival that hosted, according to its promotional material, “a wide array of talks, performances, wellness classes, art installations, gourmet food, and experiences designed to foster relationships and inspire new perspectives.”

A cursory glance at the titles of highlighted events, including “Al Gore and Jaden Smith on New Hope for Solving the Climate Crisis” and “Manufactured Organs and The Radical Quest to Cure Aging” was my first clue of what relationships might be fostered and what new perspectives might be prioritized at this event; my second clue was the intensive application for entry (follo...

Designing AND Developing Is a Fantasy for Many Architects; David Freeland Tells Us How FreelandBuck Did It With the Stack House

2018-09-14T12:00:00-04:00

Nestled in the hillsides of North East Los Angeles, a new four-story home built by the architecture duo FreelandBuck is offering a lucky buyer a taste of quintessential California living. Designed as a series of volumes stacked on top one another to slightly varying orientations, the 2,207-square foot residence comes complete with a wide-open floor plan, seamless indoor-outdoor living spaces, far-reaching views of the San Gabriel Mountains, and an accessory dwelling unit (ADU) that can be rented out or used as office space.