Archinect - News

BIG and Nokken unveil “Softshell”: a modular tent for sustainable, off-grid architecture

2024-12-04T15:13:00-05:00

BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group) has collaborated with modular architecture company Nokken to create Softshell, a semi-permanent, timber-framed tent designed to address sustainability challenges in hospitality and residential design.

The Softshell’s timber frame and recyclable canvas create a low-impact accommodation solution. Image courtesy of Nokken

Softshell is a response to the rising demand for adaptable structures that harmonize with their surroundings while minimizing ecological impact. Constructed from glued-laminated timber and a recyclable canvas, the lightweight structure prioritizes portability without sacrificing architectural integrity.

The Softshell’s open, modular interior offers a blend of comfort and natural light. Image courtesy of Nokken

“This project reimagines what a mobile structure can achieve,” explains Finn Nørkjær, Partner at BIG. “Softshell moves beyond the aesthetic of temporary design, offering something that blends seamlessly into the environment while deliveri...

Researchers debut mycelium glamping cabin prototype

2024-05-06T17:04:00-04:00

A new experimental demonstration glamping concept that represents likely the first building project made using mycelium in the Czech Republic has debuted from the home reconstruction financier Buřinka with a cross-disciplinary team from Mykilio and the Czech Technical University called MYMO.

Rendering courtesy Buřinka and MYMO

The SAMOROST concept is the latest example of sustainable construction using mushroom-based compounds as an alternative material to insulate external walls, roofs, and floors, as well as other non-load-bearing components. The cabins were designed using special proprietary mycocomposite, which they claim has been proven in lab testing over the past two years to have suitable qualities for residential structures. The experiment sought to improve usability for campers and is being pursued with support from the country’s Minister of the Environment, Petr Hladík.

Rendering courtesy Buřinka and MYMO

Design author Tomasz Kloza, a final year Master's in architecture and...

New prefabricated tiny house can be assembled in an hour for less than $40,000

2022-12-05T15:22:00-05:00

A Los Angeles-based tiny house startup named Vika Living has unveiled a compact, semi-permanent housing unit that it says can be set up in an hour for just under $40,000.

Called the Vika One, the fully prefabricated dwellings provide 144 square feet of living space, with a shared sleeping, living, dining, kitchen area, and separate bathroom. Its ceilings stand 8.5 feet tall, paired with a floor-to-ceiling glass wall and a 42-square-foot outdoor terrace.

The tiny house is also delivered complete with furnishings and fixtures, including a bed, table, chairs, toilet, kitchen, storage units, and mechanical systems for HVAC, water, power, and waste. There is also an off-grid model, which includes rooftop solar panels and batteries, fresh water pumping and filtration, and off-grid waste systems.

Image: Vika Living

The units are fully assembled in Vika Living’s Los Angeles factory and then delivered and installed on site. No foundations or heavy equipment are needed to set them up.

The ...

Prefab cabins that 'disappear among the trees' designed by Canadian architects

2022-04-14T09:00:00-04:00

Québec City-based architects Bourgeois Lechasseur have completed a set of contemporary cabins in the woods near the Canadian metropolis. Titled Reflection, the two identical cabins sit on a flat clearing close to Massif Petite-Rivière-Saint-François, a popular ski resort.

Photography by Adrien Williams + Maxime Brouillet

Despite the far-reaching scenic views, the cabins seek to engage guests with a close, intimate relationship with nature, creating lodgings that would “almost disappear among the trees.” This disappearing act is centered on a completely mirror-glazed main façade reflecting the surrounding woodlands, with darkened wooden slats covering the other three sides.

Photography by Adrien Williams + Maxime Brouillet

Several design moves were made to create continuity between the interior and exterior. The entrance to each cabin has been pushed inwards, with a light pine used to clad the ceiling of both the external patio and internal spaces. The dark wood cladding from the ext...

Goin' glamping: HKS completes its Autocamp complex in Joshua Tree, California

2022-02-16T12:46:00-05:00

Just days after the firm’s extraordinary Super Bowl design fully acquitted itself on the national stage, HKS in collaboration with Narrative Design Studio has taken the SoCal spotlight again under the guise of a new, mid-century-inspired modern clubhouse retreat now completed in Joshua Tree, California.

Featuring a 55-key resort and 25-acre campsite, the new Autrocamp retreat is defined by its network of courtyards, firepits, passive design elements, pools, and walking paths that combine to enhance the area’s amazing natural desert landscape. Anchored by an arched Quonset hut clubhouse building, the site expands along a shifted axis to provide a seamless indoor-outdoor transition to visitors, who can each enjoy vistas of the surrounding National Park underneath an ample amount of wind and solar protection.

Per the architects: “One of the critical design drivers was to incorporate a feeling of both privacy and community on the property. I...