Archinect - News

Frida Escobedo reveals first American residential design in Brooklyn

2024-04-04T15:16:00-04:00

Frida Escobedo’s first American residential commission has been revealed as a block-scale condominium project in the Boerum Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn.

The designer of the new Modern and Contemporary Art Wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (in which she has set up a working studio) will deliver the new Bergen development at 209,000 square feet for client Avdoo & Partners by 2025.

It will stand as the second building project in the New York market for Escobedo following her collaboration with Handel on the new National Black Theatre mixed-use development in Harlem.

Image credit: DARCSTUDIO

Escobedo had gained notoriety in Mexico for residential projects, including Mar Tirreno 86, which will now inform her latest design, calling for 105 units configurable in 53 different types and ranging from studios to five bedrooms. The facade of the building is angled such that it maximizes natural light from an east-west direction, with porous openings made along the street level to produc...

Sam Lubell on what's new at Lautner's Sheats-Goldstein House

2024-03-27T17:04:00-04:00

Goldstein and his team of architects, builders, engineers and landscape designers have been working on the Lautner house addition since 2003, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Goldstein’s property, which he has been tinkering with for more than 50 years. [...] “The purpose of all of this was to make the inside feel like it was outside,” said Goldstein, who describes a very collaborative working relationship with Lautner until the architect’s death, at 83, in 1994.

Sam Lubell examines half a century of renovations of and recent additions to James Goldstein's compound surrounding the famed John Lautner-designed Sheats-Goldstein Residence in Los Angeles.

Big kudos to the Times for referencing Lautner’s 1960 (now-demolished) Concannon House with a link to our 2012 feature story "Lautner's Concannon Residence, from Dust to Dust" by Archinect senior contributing writer Orhan Ayyüce.

Zaha Hadid Architects will refurbish Le Schuylkill Tower in Monaco

2024-03-12T12:15:00-04:00

The next new project from Zaha Hadid Architects will renovate major elements of the historic Le Schuylkill Tower in Monaco.

Built as the principality’s first high-rise in 1963, the aging 25-story residential tower overlooks the Mediterranean and Monte Carlo’s Port Hercule and boasts 188 apartment units in its present layout.

Image courtesy MIR

Joined by Square Architecte, ZHA will embark on a renovation that will result in a brand new 441,320-square-foot space in May of 2027. The operation will add six total penthouses made from low-carbon (XCarb) steel to the three uppermost floors while reconfiguring the interior and balconies without any alteration to the building footprint, as well as reducing whole-life carbon emissions through a BD2M accreditated design.

Image render courtesy Talcik Demovicova

Other environmental considerations include grey and rainwater recycling, improving the building’s envelope performance, and an on-site waste management system.

The new building will also...

StudioAC plays with gabled forms for an ‘unapologetically contemporary’ Toronto home

2024-01-05T13:20:00-05:00

Toronto-based Studio AC has offered a look inside their “unapologetically” residential scheme in the Canadian city. The three-story home reads as a series of stacked boxes from the outside with echoes of traditional residential forms.

Image credit: Doublespace Photography

At the base of the scheme, an otherwise contemporary rectilinear massing holds a gable-shaped opening while, above, the scheme is crowned by a gabled roof form. Inside, the emphasis on gabled forms continued with ceiling levels on the first and third floors that follow a peaked, sloping form.

Image credit: Doublespace Photography

“While a gabled roof is one of the quintessential icons of “house”, the Studio was interested in elevating this phenomenon beyond motif to a spatial experience that defined a narrative throughout the project,” the design team explains. “This approach was integral to working with the client's budget strategy and thesis:...

Minimalist concrete apartments fill a narrow site in Tokyo, designed by Ryuichi Sasaki Architecture

2024-01-05T12:30:00-05:00

Tokyo-based Ryuichi Sasaki Architecture has completed a residential scheme in the western part of the Japanese capital defined by an exposed concrete structure on a constrained site. According to the designers, the three-unit scheme “emphasizes maximal utilization of natural energy and pursues comfortable livability.”

Image credit: BAUHAUS NEO

Designed in collaboration with Kiz Architects and Hidetaka Gonai/Escenario, and completed in the winter of 2022, the project measures only 15 feet wide and 46 feet deep. Responding to the site’s narrow constraints, the scheme sees a single staircase linking four levels, “utilizing the space efficiently to ensure ample living areas.”

Image credit: BAUHAUS NEO

Image credit: Sherpa

The staircase is visually integrated into the living spaces, serving as both functional steps and display storage. In addition, the top floor incorporates a workspace counter atop the staircase to facilitate remote working for residents. Elsewhere...

Ronald Lu & Partners completes Hong Kong tower offering ‘nature on every doorstep’

2023-12-28T12:34:00-05:00

Hong Kong-based Ronald Lu & Partners has completed a residential development in Kowloon described as a “real forest building.” Named Garden Crescent, the scheme was designed with the philosophy of “nature on every doorstep.”

Image credit: Ronald Lu & Partners

Externally, the building features slanted structural supports to create solid and void spaces that are designed to create multiple avenues for natural ventilation and passive cooling. On the podium level, the scheme’s biophilic elements include a landscape of trees, shrubs, and plants aimed at improving air quality, reducing the urban heat island effect, and enhancing the local microclimate.

Image credit: Ronald Lu & Partners

As the tower rises, voids in the form create six multi-layered green courtyards. Designed to be fully accessible to birds and insects in an effort to repopulate the area’s biodiversity, the courtyards are also intended to give residents imme...

Omer Arbel balances nature and form in this award-winning Canadian Pacific Northwest house

2023-12-01T18:42:00-05:00

Vancouver-based Omer Arbel Office (OAO) has completed work on their award-winning project 75.9, a new construction of a private home located adjacent to a hayfield in rural British Columbia.

The design scheme won in the 'Future Project House' category at the 2019 World Architecture Festival.

Image courtesy Omer Arbel Office (OAO)

The complex was completed this year at an undisclosed cost and features a monumental column resembling a lily pad, produced via a proprietary concrete pouring method. A demonstration column had to be constructed on the site in order to get the clients' final approval. The result is an aesthetically pleasing four-volume arrangement recovered by the landscape that blends process and material into a singular modern and bucolic harmony.

Image courtesy Omer Arbel Office (OAO)

“For 15 years, we’ve developed a method of working with materials at the scale of an object,” Arbel says of his...

SCI-Arc founder Ray Kappe's final residential design hits the market for $4.2M in Los Angeles

2023-11-29T18:24:00-05:00

Late SCI-Arc founding director Ray Kappe’s final residential design has hit the market in Venice Beach, California, for a listed price of $4.2 million.

The 2,482-square-foot home has three bedrooms and was originally built in 1947. Kappe began the commission in 2019 (the same year he passed away), designing for the owner a two-story addition that added a garage and small recreation room to the property at 938 Amoroso Place. The renovation was completed earlier this year at an undisclosed cost. Tracey Becker of COMPASS is the listing’s agent.

Image courtesy Realtor.com

“When he came to look at the property, he was impressed with the concept of the tree fern garden and how to incorporate the house within that context,” the anonymous seller told Realtor.com. “Ray was also interested in designing a home that went beyond the normal postage-stamp-sized lot home, by continuing his signature style of getting lost in a space — where everywhere you looked, an importan...

Multistudio begins work on special infill housing project designed with the help of local schoolchildren

2023-08-31T12:12:00-04:00

Multistudio has broken ground on a noteworthy new four-residence supportive housing project in Lawrence, Kansas, which they say is evocative of their goal of pushing the limits of what’s possible within their community and the industry as a whole.

The project involved collaborating with clients of the nonprofit Tenants to Homeowners and two classes of local elementary school students from the Limestone Community School who sourced materials for the construction with help from the Parsons School of Design.

Image: © Multistudio

The project was enacted to create infill housing on a lot connected to an adjacent bike loop. The first home design features two bedrooms and an open-concept kitchen and living area in addition to a covered patio and bathroom that can be used as an emergency shelter in the event of a tornado. A solution involving a pair of donated solar panels that helped to make the home’s functioning all-electric is likely to be enacted later. Further donations to the project...

Kate Wagner says McMansions have become a permanent staple of the American scene

2023-05-17T19:50:00-04:00

I started the blog McMansion Hell to document—and deride—the endless cosmetic variations of this uniquely American form of architectural blight. [...] I worry that I’ve actually reinforced the idea that McMansions are a relic of the recent past. In fact, there remains a certain allure to these seemingly soulless suburban developments [...] the McMansion is alive and well. Far from being a boom time fad, it has become a durable emblem of our American way of life.

Wagner says that, without noticing, the media’s focus on gentrification and the affordability of cities has meant that the rise of “modern farmhouses” and other forms of McMansions following the end of the great recession has gone largely unscrutinized. She claims these and other designs occupy a place between high design and vernacular architecture before finally predicting their continued dominance over the residential market owing to our penchant for consumerist displays.

"One day the McMansion, once a token of financial tomfoolery, will instead epitomize our nihilistic, environmental death drive," she writes in The Baffler. "More than half a century of urban planning prioritizing sprawl has gotten us to where we are now: choked by endless freeways, benumbed by carbon-copy strip malls, secluded in catchpenny houses with no sense of human scale."

Kim Kardashian and Tadao Ando meet on Palm Springs dream home design

2023-04-07T16:38:00-04:00

Apparent Japanese architecture aficionado Kim Kardashian recently traveled to the country to meet with Pritzker winner Tadao Ando, according to an Instagram post made by the celebrity mogul Thursday.

Ando is designing a private residence for Kardashian in the Palm Springs area, the details of which were first uncovered by Vogue magazine last year. In her post, Kardashian implied its construction was set to break ground soon, though she was sparse on other design details aside from sharing what appears to be a rendering of a grey cast concrete structure that more closely resembles a contemporary art museum than a home.

Ando has designed several celebrity residences over the years, including a $75 million compound for fashion designer Tom Ford and the Malibu home currently owned by Kardashian’s troubled ex-husband following a $57.3 million post-divorce splurge. Kardashian is also reportedly in talks with Kengo Kuma for another vacation residence at an undisclosed American lakeside loc...

Appels Architekten designs prefabricated wooden home in Bavaria

2023-03-28T14:49:00-04:00

Zurich-based firm Appels Architekten has designed an open, simplistic family home in Bavaria, Germany, composed of wooden cubes.

Called “House by the Lake,” the home balances privacy and spaces for gathering. As detailed by the architects, this configuration allows residents to retreat or participate in communal living at any time.

Photo © Florian Holzherr

All of the private rooms are housed within a sculpture of wooden volumes. Ample open space is made available both horizontally and vertically, drawing light into the house and offering views into the garden and surrounding environment. These features are maximized through the house’s generous ceiling height, light interiors, and expansive windows.

Photo © Florian Holzherr

The NYT asks: In a housing crisis, is building ‘bland’ better than the alternative?

2023-01-23T18:34:00-05:00

The new developments look startlingly alike, often in the form of boxy, mid-rise buildings with a ground-floor retail space, sans-serif fonts and vivid slabs of bright paneling. The bulky design is conspicuous, jutting out of downtown streets and overpowering its surroundings. Over time, it attracts a certain ecosystem — the craft breweries, the boutique coffee shops, the out-of-town young professionals. It’s anytown architecture, and it’s hard to know where you are from one city to the next.

The disappearance of America’s vernacular architecture and subsequent rise of what some call developer modernism is the product of necessity, reluctance towards artistry, and the monopolization of residential development across the country, according to the Times’ real estate reporter Anna Kodé.

The question of the kinds of structures (especially outside of large cities) they are replacing, if at all, is a potential counterargument in favor of their ubiquity. The larger question of whether drabness is a permanent condition of contemporary architecture, however, remains unanswered.

In a postscript with the Times’ Insider section, Kodé added: “I think one of the surprising things that came out of this story for me was finding out the number of people who defend these building types. I thought I would have to scrounge for those kinds of people. But a lot of people dee...

BIG and Safdie complete jagged new tower additions to Quito's skyline

2022-12-07T05:00:00-05:00

A pair of landmark projects in the Ecuadorian capital of Quito is now complete, representing firsts for both BIG and Safdie Architects, respectively.

QORNER, the 24-story Safdie-designed tower, is the firm’s first residential project on the continent and serves as an extension of its founder’s indoor-outdoor vision with garden terrace-lined residential offerings from the micro-apartment to the penthouse level.

IQON (left) and QORNER (right). Image courtesy of Uribe Schwarzkopf.

QORNER. Image courtesy of Uribe Schwarzkopf.

Its northern facade features a living green wall that defines a vertical core, while the staggering of its eastern and western facades creates a “hillside” form resembling a “cliff face” with room for double-height corner terraces with views of neighboring La Carolina Park.

QORNER. Image courtesy of Uribe Schwarzkopf.

Finally, a tree-lined infinity pool is placed on the rooftop level in a nod to their iconic Marina Bay Sand...

Hempcrete has been added to the U.S. building code appendix

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

For many years, industrial hemp was illegal in the US due to hemp’s association with drug use, despite the fact that it does not contain more than 0.3 percent THC [...] Building residential homes with hempcrete was therefore effectively outlawed until 2018, when the Farm Bill distinguished between hemp and cannabis plants. Then, in September 2022, hemp building materials were added to the model US residential building code, paving the way for legal use in 2024.

The International Residential Code (IRC) accepted a modified appendix in September that some are hopeful could be a catalyst for further adaptation throughout the building industry. Builders for Climate Action spokesman Chris Magwood says its greatest potential lies in commercial construction, though applications within residential design do present inherent challenges owing to drying times, insulation R-Values, and other factors.

Previously on Archinect: Hemp is about to take an outsized role in the building industry's push to go green

"I don't think that hempcrete will ever play a large role in the residential market," Magwood recently explained to Treehugger. "The fact that it is a composite material that uses a lime-based binder means that it is less insulative than other options and more expensive. Somebody has to mix, form, and cure the material, whether that happens on-site or in pre-fab units or blocks. To meet basic minimum code requirements in colder climates requires at l...

The UK's new Part O regulations are being implemented at the right time

2022-07-25T09:00:00-04:00

New regulations, called Part O, took effect in England in June, requiring that new homes are built with some measures to combat overheating. The regulations aim to reduce solar gain — the increase in room temperature caused by sunlight — ensuring the safety of occupants, even if it may remain uncomfortable.

Hundreds of UK residents died in this week’s “heat apocalypse” that posed particular challenges to those living in the country’s many recently-converted office buildings and council housing. Brick masonry remains the predominant residential construction material, though Low Energy Architectural Practice Principal Mark Siddall says the regulations will “help designers, architects and engineers make more informed decisions so that the risk of overheating can be reduced in new properties.”

Extreme summer temperatures seen this week are expected to occur more regularly by century's end. At the other end of the spectrum, certain antiquated home designs can’t be kept warm enough in winter, prompting RIBA to call for an expansive £38 billion ($51.5 billion) upgrade plan.

Eric Owen Moss reveals his corner-bending A+M private residence in the Pacific Palisades

2022-07-05T19:31:00-04:00

Eric Owen Moss has shared photos of his self-designed private residence overlooking the coastline on a small 30’ by 50’ plot in Los Angeles’ beach-adjacent Pacific Palisades neighborhood.

The former SCI-Arc Director’s new A+M home is inspired by the Case Study homes published by John Entenza in Arts & Architecture magazine from the mid-1940s through the early-60s and the later direction of Barbara Goldstein, who featured Moss’ early Petal House renovation in that same publication’s pages in 1983.

Image courtesy Eric Owen Moss Architects

Per the architect, the four-story, 1,950-square-foot house is "organized around a central sky-lit atrium that makes the transformation in shape visible on the west side and provides floor-to-ceiling glazing as one makes their way up the stairs on the east side."

Image courtesy Eric Owen Moss Architects

"The perimeter walls of the building are in continuous transformation between the two plan shapes — the roof li...

Future Firm's Hem House has all the makings of an award winner at half the price

2022-02-11T14:34:00-05:00

As part of the firm’s desire to fill the “middle market” of residential housing options with inspiring contemporary architecture, Chicago-based practice Future Firm has designed a new 1,300-square-foot residential project, called Hem House, that has provided the city with a sustainable model for building the bedrock of successful mixed-income communities.

The design team worked with real estate developer Jacob Root to create the project with the hopes of diversifying the housing stock available to those interested in the area where new residential construction costs usually begin at $600,000.

Image copyright Daniel Kelleghan Photography

“While there’s a very vibrant art and culture scene in Chicago, there isn’t a lot of bespoke contemporary architecture, and what exists in residential is almost exclusively very high end — so we’re hoping to help change that narrative,” co-principal Ann Lui explained. “Because Chicago residential lots are all the same size, it’s easy for people to r...

Bosnian man builds rotating house to give his wife diversified views

2021-10-15T13:50:00-04:00

To appease his wife wanting more diversified views from their home, 72-year-old Vojin Kusic designed and built a fully operational rotating house.

The unique project was born through the couple’s former home, which Kusic routinely remodeled to meet wife Ljubica’s desires. After altering the home so that the family’s bedrooms faced the sun, Kusic says his wife grew frustrated at not being able to see people entering the front yard, which faced away from the road because of the previous remodel.

As reported by Associated Press News, Kusic said, “I had to tear down the wall between our two bedrooms to turn them into a living room and move all (electrical) installations. It was a very demanding task, it took a lot from me, but I did what she wanted.”

With more desired remodeling, Kusic decided to build an entirely new house that could adapt to Ljubica’s needs.

“Once again, this time on the ground floor, I had to start tearing down some walls, at which point, to not wait for her to ch...

22 projects shortlisted for the Don't Move, Improve 2021 awards

2021-05-21T18:49:00-04:00

The Don't Move, Improve Awards is an annual program organized by New London Architecture highlighting the city's best new home extensions and celebrate innovative home improvement projects. In its eleventh year, each selected winner demonstrates "how a well-designed home can improve quality of life, offer functional solutions on the smallest of sites, and create beautiful spaces even within the most restricted of budgets."

Below are this year's shortlist winners and a selection of project images.

A Cloistered House by Turner Architects. Image courtesy of NLA

A CLOISTERED HOUSE by TURNER ARCHITECTS
AMOTT ROAD by ALEXANDER OWEN ARCHITECTURE
CLAIRE AND TOM'S HOME by ZMINKOWSKA DE BOISE ARCHITECTS
COUNCIL HOUSE RENOVATION by VATRAA
ELMFIELD ROAD by ECKFORD CHONG

Elmfield Road by Eckford Chong. Image courtesy of NLA

ER Residence by Studio Hallett Ike. Image courtesy of NLA

ER RESIDENCE by STUDIO HALLETT IKE
FRUIT BOX by NIMTIM ARCHITECTS
GRAIN HOUSE by HAYHURST AND CO

Grain House by Hayhurst and Co...

Ultra-narrow urban Vietnamese home connects three generations of family

2020-10-07T13:07:00-04:00

Set in Hanoi, the capital city of Vietnam, the CH House, designed by ODDO Architects, brings together three generations of family to create an interconnected space of community and residence. The narrow home is inspired by the traditional homes of Hanoi with large openings to the exterior and interior courtyards for ample natural light and ventilation.

The home is split into two zones: the communal spaces and the private spaces. The living room, library, dining room, and kitchen are positioned on different levels to emphasize connectivity amongst the family. Above the common area are the children's rooms and closer to the center of the home are the grandparents' bedroom and the parents' room.

Plant life is embraced throughout, to create a sense of calm and connectedness to nature. Moreover, the double-layered facade combines perforated concrete blocks and a steel frame accompanied by a layer of greenery to provide both shading and natural ventilation through the space.

The result is...

Archinect's Virtual Event Guide for the week of June 22-25th

2020-06-22T14:53:00-04:00

Today's featured virtual event happenings, from Archinect's Virtual Event Guide, address issues from resiliency, mass timber, community engagement, residential design, art, public art, urban design, Palm Springs modernism and bamboo.

Are you hosting a virtual lecture? Presentation? Tour? Interview? Happy Hour? Submit it for consideration by clicking here.

Are you an expert in an arena that's especially important right now? Let us know if you would like to work with Archinect to host an online event.

The Future City: Urban Resilience and the Power of Data
Monday, June 22, 2020 7:30 PM BST
Our societies are surrounded by an abundance of data in both the online and physical world. Has data the power to help us understand better our communities and complex reality? Can data help us create new tools to manage urban risk and design resilient cities?
Click here to attend and/or register

Time to reconnect with nature: Timber offices of the future
Tuesday, June 23, 2020 | 12:30 PM – 1:30 PM BST...

California considers converting abandoned malls to residential uses

2020-05-22T15:00:00-04:00

As the far-reaching impacts of the COVID-19 crisis continue to reverberate nationwide, California lawmakers are attempting to reorient the state's housing policies in an effort to continue making progress in addressing the housing crisis gripping the region.

Previously on Archinect: "California's stealthy approach to abolishing single-family zoning pays off." Image courtesy of Flickr user Kent Kanouse.

Lawmakers have introduced a slew of bills in recent weeks aimed at furthering housing production goals, Cal Matters reports. Until now, the state has focused on a two-pronged approach of reducing zoning and regulatory hurdles for new housing developments while also infusing nonprofit housing developers and state agencies with vigorous financing to build new units. With the increasingly dire financial situation being left in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, however, plans have had to change in order to keep up and state authorities will now likely lean on private businesses to produce a...

Olson Kundig-designed Los Angeles residence captures panoramic views of L.A.

2020-02-17T12:00:00-05:00

This Olson Kundig-designed Hollywood Hills West retreat, called "Collywood," sits just over the Sunset Strip and overlooks Los Angeles, offering panoramic views stretching from the San Gabriel Mountains to the Pacific Ocean. A seamless connection between the interior and exterior of the home was an essential part of the design criteria provided by the client.

The main level of the residence contains the kitchen, dining and living areas, and a series of retractable window walls that give occupants unobstructed access to the outdoor terrace spaces that encircle the home. "Because the home is located in California, there’s a strong indoor/outdoor connection. Terraces become outdoor living areas and indoor rooms open up completely, almost erasing the line between inside and outside," said Tom Kundig, FAIA, RIBA in a statement.

The main terrace adjacent the dining and living areas lead to a swimming pool that overlooks the L.A. city skyline. As one moves to the upper levels, the master...

José Oubrerie's Miller House finally finds a buyer

2019-06-05T18:13:00-04:00

After spending months idled on the real estate market, José Oubrerie's Miller House in Kentucky exchanged hands twice in late 2018.

As noted on real estate website Zillow, the home sold in September 2018 for $415,000, significantly lower than the $490,000 sale that had taken place just one month before, and well-below the $550,000 price it had been listed at previously.

Both sales are a far cry from a $1,950,000 listing made for the home in 2010. The home was sold for $1,000,000 in 2008, following the 2006 death of its namesake patron. The identity of the most recent buyer is unclear, as is the future of the iconic house.

Obrerie's Miller House has exchanged hands a few times recently and its future is unclear.

The legendary home was designed by Oubrerie in 1987 while he was dean at the University of Kentucky's School of Design, and represents a key conceptual work in the realm of residential design of the era. Created to house a real estate developer's four-person family, the cube...

REX's Necklace Residence brings a family's dream home one step closer to reality

2019-03-26T12:30:00-04:00

REX recently unveiled the final design for the Necklace Residence, a yet-to-be-built, luxurious family dream home of its own kind. Overlooking the Long Island Sound, the intricately designed 43,500-square-foot project is an ensemble of five private family homes created for a husband and wife, their four children, and each of their children's future families. It was designed so that each home can be experienced autonomously while being part of a larger domestic network, like a necklace, REX describes.

The Necklace Residence's layout also allows the family to experience different views of the surrounding landscape, from a dense forest on one side to the ocean on the other.

Clad in highly reflective glass to blend into its natural landscape, the Necklace Residence also encompasses two shared pavilions: the Event Pavilion and the Entertainment Pavilion. The second and third tier beneath the main level have a garage, gym, home theater, indoor swimming pool, staff ar...

AUX Architecture redesigns the Hollyridge Home, once owned by Red Hot Chili Peppers singer Anthony Kiedis

2018-03-12T14:45:00-04:00

Overlooking the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles, the Hollyridge Home completed a well-deserved makeover this past January by L.A.-based AUX Architecture. Originally built in 1989 and previously owned by Red Hot Chili Peppers lead singer Anthony Kiedis from 1990-1997, the 2,849 square-foot home is currently on sale for about $3.29 million through the John Galich Group real estate firm.

Before the renovation. Photo courtesy AUX Architecture.

After the renovation. Photo courtesy John Galich Group.

Before. Photo courtesy AUX Architecture.

Without structurally changing its roofline, AUX Architecture transformed the Hollyridge Home into a modern, light-filled space that takes full advantage of its views of the nearby Hollywood sign.

After. Photo courtesy AUX Architecture + John Galich Group.

Before. Photo courtesy AUX Architecture.

After. Photo courtesy John Galich Group.

Before. Photo courtesy AUX Architecture.

In renovating the home, AUX Architecture emphasized indoor-outdoor living, giving th...

Yuan Architects' terraced “House S” in Taiwan

2018-01-18T18:18:00-05:00

Yuan Architects seemed to draw inspiration from the surrounding mountainous landscape of Hsinchu, Taiwan when they designed “House S”.

Built on a hillside, the approximately 416 m² family residence features staggered terraces to “extend the indoor living space to the mountain landscape, offering a connection with nature,” Yuan Architects describes.

Photo: Te-Fan Wang, Wenyuan Peng, Stephen Liao.

Diagram. Image courtesy of Yuan Architects.

An undulating wall that runs through the house defines the home's private and public spaces. “Within the building, the wall encircles the master bedroom and children’s room, forming the two main spaces [...] Between the public and private spaces on each floor, three staggered terraces provide three different lifestyles and settings.” The house was completed in 2016.

Photo: Te-Fan Wang, Wenyuan Peng, Stephen Liao.

Photo: Te-Fan Wang, Wenyuan Peng, Stephen Lia...

BIG, Olson Kundig, Brooks + Scarpa among AIA 2017 Housing Award recipients

2017-04-13T18:01:00-04:00

The AIA distinguishes new residential projects across the U.S. in their yearly Housing Awards. The competition recognizes single-family homes, multifamily residential structures, and specialized housing that exemplify high-quality housing design.

For 2017, the competition jury chose winning projects designed by firms like BIG, Olson Kundig, Marlon Blackwell Architects, Brooks + Scarpa, Bohlin Cywinski Jackson and more, from Los Angeles to Omaha to Philadelphia. Winners were selected in four categories: One/Two Family Custom Housing, One/Two Family Production Housing, Multifamily Housing, and Special Housing.

One/Two Family Custom Housing
Recognizes outstanding designs for custom and remodeled homes for specific client(s).

Blue Lake Retreat; Marble Falls, Texas
Lake|Flato Architects

Photo: Andrew Pogue.

Pennsylvania Farmhouse; Lakewood, Pennsylvania
Cutler Anderson Architects

Photo: David Sundberg.

The Graphic House; Fayetteville, Arkansas
Marlon Blackwell Architects

Photo: Timothy Hursley.

L...

Check out these new renderings of the Herzog & de Meuron-designed 1111 Lincoln Residences in Miami

2017-03-27T12:45:00-04:00

Herzog & de Meuron, in collaboration with Robert Wennett, have designed a new, “smart” luxury residential complex in Miami Beach at 1111 Lincoln Residences. As seen in a new batch of almost-disturbingly hyperreal renderings, the residences are built around leafy, Raymond Jungles-designed courtyards with honed stoned floorings.

At a price tag of $3.8M, the 2,155 square foot, three-bedroom homes have 1,550 square feet of exterior space. Alongside the residential units, the project will include 100,000 square feet of office space, a multi-level parking garage and an event space.