Archinect - News

Paris residential project recently completed by ITAR Architectures

2018-04-18T17:32:00-04:00

ITAR Architectures, a firm based in Paris, recently completed their award winning project Batignolles, Paris 17th. Focusing on residential work, the firm states all components within their projects hold equal importance. ITAR Architectures explains, "Material diversity, selected structural solutions, attention brought to detailing, all exemplifies our concern to provide a sensible answer to a specific cultural, technical and geographic context."

Batignolles, Paris 17th by ITAR Architectures, located in Paris. Image: David Foessel.

Batignolles, Paris 17th by ITA...

ODA's new condo building 15 Renwick Street "combats cold modernism"

2017-06-15T13:41:00-04:00

The dark, quasi-Victorian corridors of ODA's 31-unit apartment building on New York City's Renwick Street are a purposeful nod toward British-born James Renwick, 19th century scientist and engineer, after which the street is named. The contrast between the portrait-clad hallways and the light, modern rooms they adjoin is striking; the two spaces almost seem to be from two entirely different buildings.

However, as an alliterative press release notes, ODA is purposefully trying to "combat the cold modernism of so much contemporary construction" and the architects appear to succeed, primarily because the interiors don't shy away from texture. While the clean lines and unabashed abstract geometry of the modern canon are prominent here, so is an emphasis on not obscuring or disguising the composition of the materials.

The wood grain, both on the kitchen cabinets and the polished floors, is prominent. Instead of a soulless cradle of anonymous perfection, the dwelling spaces are rooted firm...

Eye candy: enjoy these freshly digitized, gorgeous contemporary photos of Southern California's finest midcentury modern architecture

2016-03-25T18:29:00-04:00

No longer confined to collecting dust in storage rooms, over a thousand slides documenting modern architecture's emergence in Southern California have been digitized by the USC Library, and are now available to view for free online.

The approximately 1300 slides were culled from the collections of Fritz Block and Pierre Koenig, which both belong to the USC Libraries. Koenig himself chose which slides he wanted digitized in the late 1990s, for a project that never fully came to pass, but from which a delightfully dated prototype website is still accessible. The slides feature work by various architects, mostly within Southern California.

Check out the full collection here, and a few select images below:

↑ John Lautner's Foster Residence in Sherman Oaks, from Pierre Koenig's collection.

↑ Frank Lloyd Wright's Millard Residence in Pasadena, from Fritz Block's collection.

↑ Pierre Koenig's Schwartz residence in Santa Monica (1996), from Pierre Koenig's collection.

↑ Albert Frey's Frey Residen...

Take a virtual tour of Havana's modern architecture

2015-05-04T13:12:00-04:00

With the historic lifting of the Cuban embargo creating an instant rush to visit the long-cloistered island nation, a rush for rediscovery will bring all manner of Cuban art, culture and design to the fore. While it's not always acknowledged as such, Cuban architecture, especially modernist buildings, showcase an eclectic and exciting blend of styles, from the Spanish and Art Deco buildings that preceded them to the modern and Brutalist influences that came during the postwar period.

For more on Cuban architecture:

"Flammable" towers make a fiery statement on the modern skyscraper frenzy

2014-01-20T14:13:00-05:00

Architects always have the future in mind when they design. That's particularly evident in today's cityscapes as they continuously try to one-up each other in who can raise the world's next tallest, more-modern-than-thou skyscraper for all to gaze in awe -- or not. For Jingjing Naihan Li, a long-time resident and practicing architect in Beijing, modern skyscrapers can be invasive and gradually make the city's public spaces feel less familiar.

As a clever response to the skyscraper frenzy she saw at home and abroad, Naihan created a collection of the most recognizable towers scaled down to meticulously replicated wax candles titled "Flammable."

"Together, it looks like a party of all the alpha males of the world," Naihan responded in an email. "In places like New York or Hong Kong where land is limited, it was somewhat justifiable to build high and dense. But as the cities with the skyscraper were viewed by other developed countries as the representative of modern success, the sk...

15 Mid-Century Modern Dream Homes that will Kill Your Children

2013-04-08T13:36:00-04:00

Do you know what I love more? My children. And that is why I will never live in my MCM dream home. Because mid-century modern architecture is designed to KILL YOUR CHILDREN. (Also, moderately clumsy or drunk adults).

Red arrows show the direction of travel of children’s bodies

It is pretty certain that none of these children reached adulthood intact.

An Octogenarian’s Modernist Dream Comes to Life

2012-05-10T13:51:00-04:00

“Here is the most modern of modern houses I’ve ever seen and loved,” she wrote, describing the turquoise mosaic tile, the compact state-of-the-art kitchen, the distant views of city lights, the proximity to her daughter’s family and the circular stairway that she felt, sadly, too old to sail down. “I guess you can’t expect to have too many dreams answered,” she concluded. “At least, I’ve had the opportunity to see the Morris House, to know it existed.”

Gordon Walker designs a house for the future

2011-10-10T15:14:25-04:00

Walker showed his idea around. The response was near freezing. "So far, people don't like them," he says. "They say, 'I want something I recognize.' "The baby boomers are coming of age, and I always imagined that they were more design-minded than they turned out to be." Or they just haven't caught up to Gordon Walker.

A Seattle architect designs a house for him and his wife to grow old in, and realizes he's way more cool than most other senior citizens.