Archinect - News

Seattle houseboat gets a second life on land

2021-08-11T09:01:00-04:00

A historic houseboat in Seattle’s Madison Park neighborhood is getting new life thanks to a 3-year renovation project from local firm Best Practice.

The firm’s effort expanded the houseboat’s original 1,200-square-foot footprint with an 800-square-foot black metal facade addition that will help an area couple find a more comfortable fit for their growing young family.

Per the architect: “This residence began its life as a floating home on Lake Union! It was transported and firmly affixed to the ground near the shore of Lake Washington, but we still like to think of it as a Boathouse. With a charming street presence, the design team crafted an open interior space with vaulted ceilings, new basement living spaces and a primary suite upstairs in the new addition.”

Best practice turned the existing bedroom into a whimsical space for the couple’s daughter. An open floor plan replaces the clutter of the previous layout and features a vaulted stained cedar ceili...

UN Studio brings a responsive solar skin to an existing office tower in Seoul

2020-05-08T16:10:00-04:00

Dutch architects UNStudio have recently completed the top-to-bottom renovation and re-skinning of an existing office tower in Seoul for corporation company Hanwha.

The eye-catching project is notable due to the fact that the extensive renovation and re-cladding were executed while the building remained occupied by the company and its workforce. According to a press release describing the project, construction teams worked three floors at a time, starting at the ground floor lobby and surrounding landscaped spaces and moving up to the tower's new top-floor restaurants and office suites.

The tower offers variegated facades and a ground level plaza. All photographs ©Rohspace.

Gansam Partners served as the Executive Architect while Loos van Vliet provided landscape design services for the project. Additionally, ARUP Hong Kong provided facade and sustainability expertise and AG Licht acted as lighting consultant.

For the...

An Oscar Niemeyer house, built for his sister-in-law, gets an ambitious 5-year renovation from Brazilian artist

2018-08-27T14:55:00-04:00

Niemeyer originally designed the property for his wife’s sister, Carmen Baldo. Seven years ago, Baldo’s children sold it to the artist Adriana Varejão and her partner, the film producer Pedro Buarque.

The New York Times shows off a newly renovated home in Brazil designed by Oscar Niemeyer, one of the country's greatest architects. The five year long upgrade was carried out by Brazilian artist Adriana Varejão and her partner, the film producer Pedro Buarque, who dramatically transformed the dilapidated house, adding a pool, an outdoor living space, a patio and a much larger garden.