Archinect - News

Dutch architects share details of Corbusier-inspired tiny apartment in Rotterdam

2024-09-11T14:48:00-04:00

A 74-square-foot apartment design in Rotterdam, the Netherlands’ second-largest city, has captured attention for its innovative use of space, as featured on Archinect.

Image: © Ossip van Duivenbode

The Cabanon, as its architect-owners Beatriz Ramo and Bernd Upmeyer prefer to call it, takes the 1951 vacation retreat Le Corbusier designed for himself in the Côte d'Azur as inspiration and includes a living room, sleeping pod, and tiny bathroom component with a small toilet, rain-shower, and spa.

Image: © Ossip van Duivenbode

Each of these spaces comes color-coded, an effect that counteracts the apparent cramping quality of the space. A series of built-ins are another pivotal inclusion, affording them space to store items for their guests behind a tangerine-colored wall.

Image: © Ossip van Duivenbode

Ramo and Upmeyer acquired the upper floor residual space in the upper portion of their post-war apartment building in 2013. Upmeyer is the founder of BOARD (Bureau of Architecture, Research ...

Rental apartment construction in the U.S. is at a 50-year high

2023-09-07T13:03:00-04:00

New rental apartment construction in the United States is expected to top a 50-year high in 2023. According to a report by RentCafe, nearly 461,000 units are expected to be delivered across the U.S. this year, meaning that over the past three years, 1.2 million units will have been built and brought to the market.

According to RentCafe’s analysis of Yardi Matrix data, the number of deliveries is expected to remain high until 2025, at which point the impact of current economic uneasiness will filter through to construction.

The New York metro area leads the country in terms of apartment construction, with 33,000 units to be opened in 2023. Almost one-third of the apartments will be located in Brooklyn (9,825), followed by Queens (4,430) and Manhattan (3,770).

Beyond New York, the Dallas metro area is the second most active, with 23,659 new rental units to come to market. The Dallas metro area has seen the most new apartments opened over the last three years, at 76,660 units. Other st...

Atlanta ranks first for most constructed downtown apartments nationwide over the last decade

2022-09-16T09:00:00-04:00

According to a new study by storage space marketplace StorageCafe, four of the top five most active downtown areas for new apartment construction are in the South, with Atlanta, Georgia ranking first for built downtown apartments over the past ten years. The city yielded over 21,500 apartments over this period.

For this study, StorageCafe assessed the downtown areas of the country’s 100 largest cities and ranked them based on the quantity of multifamily units produced over the last decade. Approximately 391,000 downtown apartments were built across these 100 cities during this time, which is 37% of the total number of multifamily units in these areas. Self-storage development has also risen as a result of this growth in downtown apartments, with Atlanta leading in self-storage space construction over the last ten years as well.

Over the past decade, Atlanta’s downtown apartment inventory increased by 50%. The city is expecting another 7,000 apartments, which are currently under con...

HOOOLDESIGN’s volumetric showroom brings rich street life into a crafted interior space

2021-11-25T12:24:00-05:00

Chinese practice HOOOLDESIGN have completed a showroom and living quarters inspired by the human journey through urban paths and alleyways. Titled “The Streets,” the project uses a blend of stone, terrazzo, timber, concrete, and glass to create a 460 square meter (5000 square foot) space anchored by a cantilevered timber exhibition box.

Photograph by Liu Yulin

The project is situated in the city of Taiyuan, approximately 250 miles southwest of Beijing. Drawing inspiration from the city’s historic network of streets, alleys, courtyards, and caves, the designers sought to capture the emotional connections between people on an urban level, and recreate it in a single interior space.

Photograph by Liu Yulin

“The design takes street life as the starting point,” the team explain. “Space is a medium which connects people, and streets and lanes have the ability to create a dynamic, lively atmosphere. Our design reflects on the experience of streets and lanes, expressed through products wh...

Hidden rooms, from 16th century England to a current-day New York city apartment

2021-03-17T19:14:00-04:00

The mystery of something hidden always brings curiosity to us. In the movies, we can surely reminisce about hidden rooms and passageways behind bookshelf walls or behind a classic Impressionist masterpiece. During the 16th century in England, Roman Catholic priests were feared of persecution due to state restrictions. “Priest holes” were built in wealthy homes for hiding and allowed a passageway to exit, if needed. Several still exist today, behind bathrooms and inside chimneys, as mysterious tourist attractions.

Harvington Hall

Another mysterious destination on travelers’ bucket lists, is Chicago’s speakeasies of the 1920s Prohibition era. Hidden taverns and basement bars were the scene for gangsters and bootleggers gracing with flair and dancing with illegal alcohol.

Chicago Prohibition Bust 1931. Photograph by Daniel Hagerman

As we shift from 16th century England to 1920s Chicago, next, we look into the mysterious history of New York City’s buildings. Buildings built prior to Wor...

Will coronavirus make transit-oriented development a thing of the past?

2020-05-08T12:32:00-04:00

“This is an opportunity to think in new ways, but people will still want to live close to transit,” [Dr. Richard J. Jackson] said. The challenge for developers will be marrying density with safety, which will now require an interdisciplinary approach [...]

The New York Times takes a look at the potential impact the coronavirus pandemic could have on the future of transit-oriented development in the United States. Transit use has fallen drastically during the lockdown period, while many high-profile figures, including New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, have spoken out against urban density in response to the pandemic.These trends are converging to potentially make TOD projects less desirable in the future.

Dr. Jackson tells The New York Times, "The era of a single architect designing buildings is over, he said, and transit-oriented development will need to bring in the best minds from design, health and transit to come up with living spaces that are conducive to community but also the well-being of residents."

Adam Nathaniel Furman's Tokyo apartment renovation contains a library of materials

2019-05-09T13:18:00-04:00

Orange, mango, strawberry, lime. If an apartment could be said to be bursting with fruit flavor it would be this three-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment in Tokyo’s Nagatacho district, renovated by Adam Nathaniel Furman, a British architectural designer, for a pair of very adventurous clients over the past two years.

Adam Nathaniel Furman has recently completed a spectacular new renovation for an adventurous couple's apartment in Tokyo’s Nagatacho district.

Interior of apartment, designed by Adam Nathaniel Furman. Photo by Jan Vranovsky.

The renovation is significant for its novel use of colors, textures and patterns. According to Alexandra Lange, "many of the client-architect discussions devolved into conversations about senses, tastes and food, and Mr. Furman spent days with the couple shopping for materials." The apartment boldly applies synthetic materials, including vinyl and melamine, that compliment shaped plywood and other natural elements.

Interior of apartment, designed by Adam Nathaniel Furman. Photo by Jan Vranovsky.

You can now visit Le Corbusier's restored Parisian studio apartment

2018-10-30T18:06:00-04:00

Le Corbusier’s Parisian studio apartment has reopened to the public following a two-year restoration to its storied bones...French architect François Chatillon was tapped for the €1m restoration project, which marks the 50th anniversary of the Fondation Le Corbusier. Chatillon has brought back the original colour palette and textures of the 240 sqm Modernist home as well as replacing degraded materials.

The modernist Parisian apartment, where Le Corbusier and his wife Yvonne Gallis lived from 1934 to 1965, is located on Rue nungesser et coli 24 and is open to the public on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Saturdays.

Muji's apartment prototype tackles long commutes and highly dense cities

2018-10-05T20:23:00-04:00

Created for the annual exhibition House Vision, the prototype is a thought experiment in the way people live in super-dense cities. [...] It’s a common problem in big cities all over the world, and Hasegawa’s design is meant to balance space-saving with privacy, transforming a 1.5-story space (which are common across the city) into a usable space for four.

Highly-dense cities are common through out countries like China and Japan. Popular apparel and houseware brand, Muji, are taking creative steps in tackling long commutes and dense city living most employees face. Partnering with Japanese architect, Go Hasegawa, Muji's apartment prototype aims to turn a 1.5 story space into a cozy and functional live-work environment.

Image courtesy of Nacása & Partners Inc. © HOUSE VISION

Equipped with an open communal space and kitchen, the Muji furnished apartment would have a balance of work functionality and privacy. The upper level of the space would mimic a lofted canopy design that would create a reimagined second story. Cities like Beijing continuously have increasingly high land prices which effect living costs. With this type of design concept, has Muji found a way to rethink shared co-working quarters?

Image courtesy of Nacása & Partners Inc. © HOUSE VISION

Portugal apartment renovation by Mass Lab features a blue modular design

2018-09-14T15:13:00-04:00

Mass Lab has renovated Pinheiro Manso Apartment, located in the center of Porto, Portugal, for an integrated flow of space. The dwelling was previously a disconnected 2 floor typology with small, closed off rooms seeing little sunlight.

Pinheiro Manso Apartment by Mass Lab, located in Porto, Portugal. Image: Mass Lab.

The newly remodeled space features blue wood panelling on the inside and a connected design to the outdoor courtyard. A modular wall contains the different functions of bathrooms, cabinetry, kitchen, and eating area.

Pinheiro Manso Apartment by Mass Lab, located in Porto, Portugal. Image: Mass Lab.

The bedrooms are located on the first floor allowing the basement to used as a social space. A blue wooden staircase was inserted to connect the two floors and serve as a modular wall on the ground floor.

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Here's your chance to own an apartment in Le Corbusier’s Cité Radieuse

2018-03-13T13:50:00-04:00

A duplex apartment in Le Corbusier’s Modernist icon La Cité Radieuse has hit the market for €598,000. [...] This 140 sq m apartment sits on a high floor of the colourful Modernist landmark, built from béton-brut concrete and declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2016. The Marseille property is on the market via 20th and 21st century architecture specialists Architecture de Collection.

Be it the béton brut appeal or the prospect of owning an appartement in the South of France, now's your moment to get both: a 1,500-square-foot unit on a higher floor in Le Corbusier's iconic Unité d’Habitation housing block in Marseille just hit the market, and it's pretty sweet. The asking price is €598,000 ($741,000).

More interested in Corb's pre-Modernism oeuvre? Check out our From the Ground Up episode about his very first completed architectural design: Villa Fallet, completed in 1906-1907 in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland.

Luxury condos sink in San Francisco's Millennium Tower

2016-08-03T12:36:00-04:00

San Francisco's Millennium Tower has been sinking at a rate of two inches per year since it was completed in 2008, which is about ten inches more than the builders had anticipated the building settling for its entire lifetime. Not to be boring, the tower is also tilting slightly to the northwest, giving the multi-million dollar residences within the building a slightly different view of the city and, perhaps, their investment. As the SFGate reports, while some blame the nearby Transbay Transit Center site dig for the sink, others noted that the building had sunk at least ten inches by the time the excavation began. But not to worry, officials say:

At the same time, geotechnical reports show that since 2009, the settling has been uneven — resulting in the 2-inch tilt.

And while Stanford’s Deierlein doesn’t consider the sink or tilt a safety issue, he did say, “I would be concerned for my investment.” That’s because a shifting building can cause walls to crack, elevators to malfunction...

Man living in plywood "pod" in SF apartment told to knock it off by housing inspector

2016-04-14T13:00:00-04:00

[Berkowitz is now] offering custom pods for sale on Craigslist for people who want to make money with AirBnB or have their own subletters. [...] The Department of Building Inspection reached out ... confirming that the pods are illegal and a violation of housing, building, and fire safety codes. [...] "He would have to completely open it up or look at something different, such as a bed with a frame, with curtains, something that was open to the room." [...] "there are fire safety realities."

You may remember Peter Berkowitz's name from the not-an-April-Fools-Day post we made a couple weeks ago, reporting on the box freelance illustrator Berkowitz had constructed to live in his friends' apartment, at $400 a month. After the news took off, he had begun testing the waters in the rest of SF's bonkers housing market to construct more of these pods and sell them to others interested in curbing their rents. After hearing from the building inspector, he told Hoodline, "I was just trying to gauge interest from people nearby ... I am not moving forward with anything I outlined in that email."

Related SF-housing news:

"The Long Goodbye" Apartment is Available to Rent for Only $2800

2014-12-01T18:23:00-05:00

At the end of a cul de sac near the Hollywood Bowl, park your car in a garage carved into the hill. Walk through a gated tunnel to a private elevator where you'll be taken up 6 stories through the hill to the top of a Tuscan tower. Nestled in a quiet walk street enclave high above the bustle of Hollywood Blvd. 1bed, 1 bath includes the aforementioned private parking garage (remote door opener). Washer/Dryer, hardwood floors and terrace.

The apartment was featured in Robert Altman's 1973 "The Long Goodbye." In the neo-noir film, Elliot Gould plays Phillip Marlowe, a private eye living in a tower high up in the Hollywood Hills. The apartment was also featured in Kenneth Branagh's Dead Again. According to the craigslist ad, Michael Connelly – author of the Lincoln Lawyer – was a former resident as was David Copperfield.

The apartment is close to the Hollywood Bowl. Moreover: it's "quiet, no freeway noise, beautiful views yet a short walk to Hollywood and Highland and the subway." No word on whether or not it's cat-friendly.