Archinect - News

10 new examples of brick and stone in architecture

2024-11-09T08:00:00-05:00

In case you haven't checked out Archinect's Pinterest boards in a while, we have compiled ten recently pinned images from outstanding projects on various Archinect Firm and People profiles.

Today's top images (in no particular order) are from the board Bricks & Stones.

Tip: use the handy FOLLOW feature to easily keep up-to-date with all your favorite Archinect profiles.

↑ The Grand Mulberry in New York, NY by MA | Morris Adjmi Architects

↑ Porcelain Factory Plugin Revival in Jingdezhen, China by People's Architecture Office; Photo: Zhu Yumeng, People’s Architecture Office

↑ House14a in Hellerup, Denmark by pihlmann architects; Photo: Hampus Berndtson

↑ The renovation of Phoenix Terrace in the Taihu Resort Area in Wuxi, China by Parallect-design

↑ Manhattan Brownstone in New York, NY by Delson or Sherman Architects; Photo: Jason Schmidt

↑ Glaze in Toronto, ON by Kilogram Studio; Photo: Scott Norsworthy

↑ MRIIA HOUSE in Ukraine by MAKHNO Studio

↑ South E8 in Raleigh, NC by Lorcan O'He...

Masonry arches define Zaha Hadid Architects’ design for Uzbek research center

2024-10-16T08:26:00-04:00

Zaha Hadid Architects has unveiled its design for a scientific research center in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Named the Alisher Navoi International Scientific Research Center, the project is defined by arching facades and interiors built from bricks produced in local kilns.

Image credit: Norviska

The center’s defining arches seek to echo the curvilinear geometries of traditional Uzbek architecture, as well as introduce passive heating and cooling principles. Courtyards have also been incorporated within the center to improve natural light and ventilation and create a variety of outdoor gathering spaces.

Image credit: Zaha Hadid Architects

“Informed by the wind towers of Central Asian and Middle Eastern vernacular architecture that maintain cooler interior temperatures, the geometries and composition of the center’s supporting arches have been designed as hollow structures with openings that capture the wind and channel cooling ventilation into the building,” Zaha Hadid Architects explains....

Neri&Hu's newest Blue Bottle Shanghai space shelters a community of coffee drinkers from the daily grind

2024-07-18T18:25:00-04:00

A thought-provoking new café design in Shanghai’s mixed-use Columbia Circle complex from Neri&Hu for the Blue Bottle Coffee chain has caught our eye after being completed earlier this year.

Executed at just 1,680 square feet within the leftover footprint evacuated by a former residential building, the new 'The Imprint' café provides customers a respite from the blistering pace of city life with a welcoming sense of 'home' in line with the client's brand identity and community values.

Photo by Zhu Runzi

“Even if the building is no longer visible in the physical world, the traces it leaves in our individual or collective memories serve as a source of nostalgia and remembering,” the firm states in their project description.

Photo by Zhu Runzi

Within its white suspended massing, the impression of a corrugated roof's mold is used to manifest a sentimental attachment to the space in dialogue with the remaining composition of recycled clay bricks and plaster.

Photo by Zhu Runzi

"Despite the...

Restoration of Saarinen-designed First Christian Church tower completed in Columbus, Indiana

2024-02-23T08:03:00-05:00

The Landmark Columbus Foundation has shared photos of Louis Joyner Architect's completed tower restoration of the landmark First Christian Church in Columbus, Indiana, designed by Eero Saarinen and his father, Eliel, in 1942.

The project took eight months to complete, wrapping up this past December.

The church’s 166-foot-high freestanding clock tower served as the main focus of the restoration work, which took place in four main parts, with repairs also needed to account for significant masonry cracking, rust, and water damage to its interior.

Photo: Hadley Fruits for Landmark Columbus Foundation

Contractors stabilized the 50 uppermost feet of the tower by first removing its east and west walls and then taking the brick veneer off its north and south edifices, removing parapets, and then installing a new concrete block support onto the 166-foot-tall structure.

Photo: Hadley Fruits for Landmark Columbus Foundation

The brick veneer was later re-installed in addition to locally quarr...

SOM completes Rice University’s new engineering and science building behind a patterned brick facade

2023-12-08T13:24:00-05:00

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) has completed a new engineering and science building for Rice University in Houston, Texas. Named the Ralph S. O’Connor Building for Engineering and Science, the 250,000-square-foot facility seeks to “provide students and researchers with technology-rich facilities that align with the University’s goal to stay at the forefront of scientific discovery.”

Image credit: Dave Burk © SOM

The new building contains laboratories, classrooms, offices, a cafe, and gathering spaces. At the top level, meanwhile, a multi-purpose event space contains an outdoor terrace set against the backdrop of the Houston skyline.

The building is anchored by a five-story central atrium, imagined by the team as “a hub of activity” connecting the wider facilities. A glazed facade at the ground level visually connects the building with the Engineering Quad outside, while a cantilevered sculptural stair is framed by brick walls and a fritted glass wall on the upper levels.

Image cred...

Four masonry cultural buildings by Architecture Research Office: Your Next Employer?

2023-12-04T12:56:00-05:00

Following last week’s visit to Massachussets-based I-Kanda Architects, we are moving our Meet Your Next Employer series to New York this week to explore the work of Architecture Research Office.

From their studio in Brooklyn, the firm has built a portfolio that, in their words, “unites beauty and form with strategy and intelligence.” In September, we reported on the firm’s plans for the Frederic Church Center for Art and Landscape in Upstate New York, while in May, the firm was part of a wider team behind the design of a Brooklyn high school campus with a hydroponics greenhouse and outdoor teaching spaces.

Over on Archinect Jobs, the firm is currently hiring for a Junior Designer to join their Brooklyn office. For candidates interested in applying for the position, or anybody interested in learning about the firm’s output, we have rounded up four masonry cultural buildings by Architecture Research Office that exemplify the studio’s ethos.

Dia Chelsea. Image credit: Elizabeth Felicel...

Glazed brick accentuates Shakespeare, Gordon, Vlado: Architects’ new Brooklyn apartment complex

2023-11-24T09:00:00-05:00

Shakespeare, Gordon, Vlado: Architects (SGVA) has offered an insight into their completed multi-family housing scheme in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood. Named The Garnet, the project is defined by a gray and black masonry facade punctuated by jewel-toned glazed-brick accents.

Image credit: Alexander Severin

Built on a 15,000-square-foot lot adjacent to the Fulton Street subway line, the scheme holds 103 apartment units above a 12,000-square-foot ground-floor retail space. A second-floor roof terrace seeks to strengthen the residents’ connection to the outdoors, adding to an overall mission of creating “housing that feels expansive and liberating, rather than constrained by its affordability.”

Image credit: Alexander Severin

From the outside, the eleven-story structure is clad in textured masonry with bright accents to form a “pleasant and visually engaging street wall.” A red motif first established on the facad...

Morris Adjmi completes stepped Overline development in Atlanta with rustic brick facade

2023-10-03T14:05:00-04:00

Morris Adjmi Architects has completed a large residential scheme as part of the Overline development in Atlanta, Georgia. Situated in the city’s Old Fourth Ward, the new multifamily residence sits beside a soon-to-be-completed hotel and social club linked via a skybridge.

Image credit: Douglas Friedman

Seeking to offer a “fresh take on traditional multifamily,” the red brick complex holds 359 units within a stepped form, including multilevel apartments and maisonettes with private street-level entrances. At the base of the tower, a mixture of public and private spaces link the development with the adjacent diagrid hotel, currently under construction.

Image credit: Douglas Friedman

The design team’s vision for the residential tower was for a building that “pays homage to the nearby Ponce City Market and other original converted warehouses and factories found throughout the neighborhood.” The external material palette is define...

PAU-designed The Refinery at Domino reopens Brooklyn's most iconic building to the modern workplace

2023-09-27T15:25:00-04:00

A landmark era of high-profile additions and architectural changes to the historic Brooklyn waterfront has ushered in a new chapter with today’s official public unveiling of the PAU-designed The Refinery at Domino office component at the 11-acre former Domino Sugar Factory site in Williamsburg.

The new, 15-story glass commercial space was constructed inside the building’s old brick masonry shell, offering tenants 460,000 square feet of Class A office space enhanced by carefully-inserted biophilic elements and marked by the firm’s attenuation to ascendant health and wellness considerations typical in modern workplace design.

Photo: Max Touhey

A 12-foot gap left between the new and old structures provides space for Field Operations’s 17-count in-house arboretum while standardizing a misalignment with the floors and helping to flood the bonetti/kozerski-designed office interiors with natural light and expanded access to vegetation throughout the day.

Photo: Max Touhey

A vaulted 27,000-s...

A perforated brick facade wraps Tropical Space’s new Ho Chi Minh City office building

2023-06-13T11:42:00-04:00

Vietnam-based architecture practice Tropical Space has completed an office building in Ho Chi Minh City featuring perforated brick walls. Named Premier Office, the scheme was developed with attention to maximizing natural light throughout the rental office spaces without exposing the interior to intense direct sunlight.

Photo credit: Trieu Chien

The building is anchored by a central void rising to the full height of the interior, allowing natural light and airflow across the property. On one side of the central void are the office spaces, where two facades can open to capture sunlight and ventilation. The other side of the void accommodates restrooms, storage, and circulation spaces. “By connecting the void between the corridors and empty spaces, both vertically and horizontally, the building can create moving light areas and space displacement during the day,” the design team explains.

Photo credit: Trieu Chien

While supported by a co...

10 new examples of brick and stone in architecture

2023-05-13T07:00:00-04:00

In case you haven't checked out Archinect's Pinterest boards in a while, we have compiled ten recently pinned images from outstanding projects on various Archinect Firm and People profiles.

Today's top images (in no particular order) are from the board Bricks & Stones.

Tip: use the handy FOLLOW feature to easily keep up-to-date with all your favorite Archinect profiles.

↑ Harbour House in Chichester, UK by McLEAN QUINLAN; Photo: Peter Cook/Jim Stephenson

↑ Monitor's Rest in Park City, UT by CLB Architects; Photo: Kevin Scott

↑ Jiunvfeng · Cloud of Hometown Resort Hotel in Tai’an, China by line+; Photo: Pan Jie, zystudio

↑ Museum Paleis Het Loo in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands by KAAN Architecten; Photo: Simon Menges

↑ GIORIO CASA Store in Xuzhou, China; Interior Design: CATANIAN; Photo: Jin Weiqi

↑ East Rock Community Magnet School in New Haven, CT by Newman Architects

↑ BOX in Paredes de Coura, Portugal by Tiago Sousa; Photo: Ivo Tavares Studio

↑ Wai'olu Residence in North Kona Coas...

BNIM completes Iowa’s Stanley Museum of Art behind ‘dynamic and kinetic’ brick facade

2023-02-20T10:28:00-05:00

The new Stanley Museum of Art at the University of Iowa has opened fifteen years after historic flooding destroyed the campus’ previous arts destination. Designed by BNIM, the new venue serves as a learning and teaching laboratory for the arts and a hub for the wider campus.

Image credit: Nick Merrick

Externally, the new museum is clad in what the design team describes as a “dynamic and kinetic” facade of dark, warm brick. Complimenting the masonry characteristics of neighboring buildings, the material palette also references the academic and cultural brick masonry buildings of Alvar Aalto, Louis Kahn, and Eero and Eliel Saarinen. Through an alternating composition of texture and finish, the façade changes character due to daily and seasonal changes in sunlight, creating varying levels of reflection and shadow.

Image credit: Nick Merrick

The museum is designed as a rectilinear solid form permeated by interconnected voids, creating what the team calls a “protective and respectful home ...

Construction to begin on 'energy-positive' brick tower by Mecanoo in Amsterdam

2022-10-07T12:07:00-04:00

Mecanoo is moving ahead with a 28-story tower in north Amsterdam. The mixed-use residential and commercial tower, whose inception we covered in 2020, has been formally approved by city officials and will now move forward to construction later this month. Completion is expected in 2025.

Named the Brink Tower after the Dutch word for open green space, the scheme is imagined as a ‘visual and social link’ between two existing residential neighborhoods in north Amsterdam.

Image courtesy of Mecanoo

The concept is defined by its rounded corners along the entirety of its 90-meter (295-foot) height. Clad in a warm red brick to reference the influential Amsterdam School of the 1920s, the tower’s 28 stories are interspersed on the façade by brick and concrete bands. Between the bands, each level benefits from full-height glazing broken by slender brick elements.

Image courtesy of Mecanoo

When viewed from the north, the tower adopts a wide, robust form in response to neighboring towers in Amste...

Inside the 'robust' new Ace Hotel Toronto by Shim-Sutcliffe Architects

2022-08-05T12:42:00-04:00

The 123-room Ace Hotel has opened in Toronto, designed by acclaimed Canadian practice Shim-Sutcliffe Architects, recipients of the 2021 RAIC Gold Medal. Located in the city’s Garment District, the hotel adopts what the team calls a “robust, solid architecture” with a material palette including brick, concrete, steel, and oak.

Entrance. Photo credit: William Jess Laird

The 14-story building’s exterior is clad in red brick — a “statement of resistance against recent thin and glassy developments in the area,” according to the team The main entrance is marked by a sweeping undercroft detailed in brick, concrete, copper, and wood, while oversized glass windows bring views and natural light into the interior.

Front desk. Photo credit: William Jess Laird

Inside, the lobby features a series of poured-in-place, steel-edged concrete structural arches. Each frame terminates with an oversized industrial steel “knuckle” that transfers the load of the floors above from the arches to the foundation...

Foster + Partners completes ‘innovative’ retrofit of old Spanish gas plant

2022-06-30T11:43:00-04:00

Foster + Partners has completed work on Ombú, an adaptive reuse project in Madrid, Spain. The scheme, designed for Spanish infrastructure and energy company ACCIONA, sees the retrofit of a 1905 gas plant into an office building.

Over 10,000 square meters (108,000 square feet) of office space are accommodated inside the building, which the firm says “breathes new life into a historic industrial building in Madrid, creating a sustainable exemplar of building reuse and revitalizing the surrounding area.”

Photo: Nigel Young. Image via Foster + Partners

The plant was originally built in 1905 to supply energy to the surrounding area. Having fallen into disuse and with demolition looming, the building was acquired by ACCIONA in 2017 with the goal of repurposing it.

Fosters’ approach to the adaptive reuse project involved retaining the existing load-bearing structure supporting pitched steel trusses as well as the existing building envelope, which the team calculates has conserved ove...

Facade of new Manhattan residential building comprised of bricks made from waste materials

2022-05-05T17:54:00-04:00

Let’s play Spot The Difference, urban edition. You’re on West 47th Street in Hell’s Kitchen, a Manhattan neighborhood known for its industrial vibe. Like much of the area, the street is lined with brick buildings; despite some color variations, the facades mostly look the same. There is, however, one striking difference.

The difference lies within the gray brick facade of The West, a new residential building that is made up of nearly 580,000 pounds of demolition and industrial waste.

The architects, Dutch firm Concrete, teamed up with Amsterdam-based company StoneCycling to use their recycled bricks patented under the name WasteBasedBricks. This is the first time the companies have worked together and the first time the bricks have been used in the United States.

StoneCycling works to reduce waste streams in the construction industry through sustainable materials while also meeting the aesthetic requirements of designers. The bricks are made of at least 60% waste from sources including ceramic toilet bowls, roof tiles, and steel. In fact, the waste streams themselves, determine the hues and textures of the bricks, with tones ranging from Pistachio to Radish.

For The West, Concrete chose the Truffle WasteBasedBrick for the sake of blending the building with its industrial surroundings. The archit...

Make unveils a new building for HMRC woven into the history of Salford

2021-09-15T13:51:00-04:00

Salford’s cotton-weaving history is behind Make Architecture's design for a brick commercial space Three New Bailey that will serve as a gateway to the city’s £1 billion master plan currently under development by the English Cities Fund.

Envisioned as a new regional hub for HMRC, the 7-story building will greet visitors and residents exiting the adjacent Salford Central train station into the newly formed piazza created on the 50-acre former brownfield site developed by the city council in collaboration with Legal & General and Homes England.

Image: © Paul Karalius

Per the architect: “The building’s simple and honest form was created in direct response to the HMRC brief and provides large, efficient, repeating floor spans with a side core to maximise flexibility in achieving their workplace needs for today and the future.”

Image: © Paul Karalius

Make incorporated a tiered system of weaves for the building’s short and long elevations that were developed with help from contractor Thorp...

10 modern architectural transformations of old buildings

2021-08-27T13:28:00-04:00

In case you haven't checked out Archinect's Pinterest boards in a while, we have compiled ten recently pinned images from outstanding projects on various Archinect Firm and People profiles.

Today's top images (in no particular order) are from the board Old+New.

Tip: Use the handy FOLLOW feature to easily keep up-to-date with all your favorite Archinect profiles.

↑ Queen Richmond Centre West in Toronto, Canada by Sweeny&Co Architects

↑ Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library in New York, NY by Mecanoo and Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners LLP; Photo: John Bartelstone

↑ Hamilton Court Amenities Building in Philadelphia, PA by Coscia Moos Architecture

↑ Townhouse in Brooklyn, NY by Joseph Vance Architects; Photo: Mikiko Kikuyama

↑ High Park Residence in Toronto, ON by Batay-Csorba Architects (the firm was also featured in Archinect's Studio Snapshots series); Photo: Doublespace Photography

↑ 'Pierre Bottero' Media Library and Park in Pélissanne, France by Dominique Coulon & ass...

OMA reveals Amsterdam office building with 'woven' brick façade

2021-08-24T14:41:00-04:00

OMA has released their design for the Apollolaan 171 high-end office building in Amsterdam. The scheme will be built on the site of a demolished JP Morgan bank built in the 1980s, whose foundations will be retained and reused for the new five-story building. In contrast to the former bank’s opaque façade, the new building will feature a terracing blend of glass and brick.

Image courtesy of OMA and Kroonenberg Groep

Addressing a corner site along a prominent green avenue, Apollolaan 171 features two prominent façades, each addressing different conditions. The façade facing the prominent avenue features interlocking glass volumes resembling a jigsaw puzzle, proportioned to match the scale of nearby buildings. The main entrance is placed on the corner linking the glass and brick façades, emphasized by both a gradual reduction in the building volumes and a ground floor setback, creating a public space along the avenue.

Image courtesy of OMA and Kroonenberg Groep

Meanwhile, the buildin...

10 examples of brick and stone in architecture

2021-04-02T08:00:00-04:00

In case you haven't checked out Archinect's Pinterest boards in a while, we have compiled ten recently pinned images from outstanding projects on various Archinect Firm and People profiles.

Today's top images (in no particular order) are from the board Bricks & Stones.

Tip: use the handy FOLLOW feature to easily keep up-to-date with all your favorite Archinect profiles.

↑ Jianye Lanhai Zheng Tendency Demo Plot in Zhengzhou, China by Lacime Architects; Interior Architect: VVS Architect; Photo: CAAI, GuoMing Architectural Photography

↑ Stone House in Callicoon, NY by General Assembly; Photo: Matthew Williams

↑ 10 LaSalle in Hong Kong by LWK + PARTNERS

↑ Chetian Cultural Center in Guizhou, China by West-line Studio; Photo: Jingsong Xie, Haobo Wei

↑ La Mandarina in Tapalpa, Mexico by LVS-Architecture; Photo: Lorena Darquea

↑ Cork Trees House in Braga, Portugal by Trama Arquitetos; Photo: João Morgado

↑ SHURAN Wellness Space in Shenzhen, China by E Studio; Photo: Zhang Chao

↑ House 432...

GRAFT revitalizes historical post office into mixed-use brick complex

2020-11-05T11:52:00-05:00

GRAFT has revitalized a historical post office in Berlin, expanding it with two buildings and converting the existing rooftops into commercial spaces. Accessible to the public, the new complex includes offices, restaurants, retail space, and apartments.

The original post office building is protected as a historical monument. The existing structures create several courtyards, which have been renewed in this project. Moreover, brick facades were used for the new buildings to situate the additions within the historical aesthetic.

Open plans fill the commercial space, creating a barrier-free fluidity and flexibility for tenants. Additional windows were added to the upper levels, allowing fresh entry for natural light within the buildings.

New research shows potential in storing energy in red bricks

2020-08-12T21:41:00-04:00

Imagine plugging in to your brick house.

Red bricks — some of the world’s cheapest and most familiar building materials — can be converted into energy storage units that can be charged to hold electricity, like a battery, according to new research from Washington University in St. Louis.

Brick has been used in walls and buildings for thousands of years, but rarely has been found fit for any other use. Now, chemists in Arts & Sciences have developed a method to make or modify “smart bricks” that can store energy until required for powering devices. A proof-of-concept published Aug. 11 in Nature Communications (and pictured above) shows a brick directly powering a green LED light.

“Our method works with regular brick or recycled bricks, and we can make our own bricks as well,” said Julio D’Arcy, assistant professor of chemistry. “As a matter of fact, the work that we have published in Nature Communications stems from bricks that we bought at Home Depot right here in Brentwood (Missour...

Colonial Williamsburg museums expanded with new entry pavilion

2020-08-05T16:57:00-04:00

Samuel Anderson Architects has completed a 65,000-square-foot addition to the DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum and the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum (AARFAM) complex located at Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia.

The updated art museum experience includes a new entrance for the complex that is situated across from the John Custis House and Garden. The addition is the first major expansion that the museums have received since they were joined under the same roof back in 2007. Previously, visitors entered the complex through a circuitous underground route running through the former Public Hospital of 1773.

Inside the building, a new lobby and supplemental orientation spaces connect the two existing museums while a new cafe and museum store offer visitor amenities that are "significantly enlarged and bathed in natural light through expansive, new windows overlooking the picturesque Bicentennial Park," the architects write.

The new wing brings a 25% increase in gallery ...

Studio Link-Arc designs a brick-wrapped library in China

2020-06-03T18:40:00-04:00

Located on the campus of China Resources University, a private educational institution in Shenzhen, the design of Studio Link-Arc's China Resources Archive Library is composed of a dual program. At 9,000 square meters, the building's function serves as an archive for the university and holds all of their physical and digital records in a climate-controlled vault.

Above the archive are a series of gallery spaces that serve the adjacent campus and bring a civic and cultural dimension to the program. The Archive Library's design responds to two distinct site conditions. Firstly, the project sits on a hillside that boasts expansive views of Trail Bay and the surrounding landscape. Second, the China Resources Campus to the south informs the Library's design.

At the eastern hillside, the project responds with a terraced design, integrating the project into the topography, allowing for a series of exterior public ramps that connect the residential neighborhood at the foot of the hill to th...

ADEPT adds timeless brickwork facade to historic Carlsberg Brewery in Copenhagen

2020-05-22T12:49:00-04:00

The historic Carlsberg Brewery site in Copenhagen has opened to the public and has developed into a new urban neighborhood called the Carlsberg City. The preserved buildings were transformed by a number of European architects, creating a contemporary merging of the historical and the modern.

Copenhagen-based architecture firm ADEPT contributed the Theodora House, a mixed-use complex named after the daughter of Carlsberg'd founder, to the district. Part of the building complex is new construction and the other is an adaptive re-use of a former yeast storage space now occupied by offices.

The new portion of the complex is made up primarily of apartments with additional space for shops and cafes. The architectural brick facade connects the new and the old, tying the color and materiality of the new building to the existing surrounding structures with a novel and modern approach that is achieved by rotating some of the brick units that make up the facade.

10 fresh examples of brick and stone in architecture

2020-05-22T07:00:00-04:00

In case you haven't checked out Archinect's Pinterest boards in a while, we have compiled ten recently pinned images from outstanding projects on various Archinect Firm and People profiles.

Tip: use the handy FOLLOW feature to easily keep up-to-date with all your favorite Archinect profiles!

Today's top images (in no particular order) are from the board Bricks & Stones.

↑ Waverly Residence in Palo Alto, CA by Ehrlich Yanai Rhee Chaney Architects; Photo: Matthew Millman/Joe Fletcher

↑ Pearl Marzouq Complex in Ras, Kuwait by PAD10 Architects + Designers; Photo: Sylvette Blaimont

↑ Long House in Cirencester, UK by Bureau de Change

↑ MOMA Lotus Resort, Jiuhua Mountain in Anhui, China by Lacime Architects; Photo: Schran Images

↑ HHF - School Campus Hanhoopsfeld in Hamburg, Germany by AllesWirdGut; Photo: tschinkersten fotografie

↑ Mandeville Canyon Residence in Los Angeles, CA by Marmol Radziner; Photo: Richard Powers

↑ Barefoot Luxury in Mindelo, Cape Verde by POLO Architects; Photo: F...

A breezy masonry home in Australia designed to "get better, not worse, with time"

2020-05-18T19:52:00-04:00

UK architect Peter Besley, a co-founder of Assemblage Studio who now runs his own eponymous architecture practice, has recently completed work on the Couldrey House in Brisbane, Australia.

The 3,400-square-foot, two-and-a-half level home is built out of brick and deploys a selection of earth-bound climate control approaches that include thermal mass, radiant cooling, and passive ventilation strategies.

Besley writes, "I [...] designed Couldrey House to spring directly from the subterranean rock and to be made of heavy materials lasting a very long time," adding, "The forms and spaces are compelling, but simple. They sit heavily on the ground. They seem to say to the landscape: 'I can accompany you in your long journey.'"

Attempting to tap into the overlooked geologic monumentality of the Brisbane area, Besley has created a home that is inward looking and intentionally shuts out the sounds of the city through its massive walls and cloistered internal organization.

"The architecture ...

10 new examples of brick and stone in architecture

2019-06-07T09:00:00-04:00

In case you haven't checked out Archinect's Pinterest boards in a while, we have compiled ten recently pinned images from outstanding projects on various Archinect Firm and People profiles.

(Tip: use the handy FOLLOW feature to easily keep up-to-date with all your favorite Archinect profiles!)

Today's top images (in no particular order) are from the board Bricks & Stones.

↑ Father‘s House in China by MADA s.p.a.m. 上海马达思班建筑设计事务所

↑ Casa CAF in Mexico City by Estudio MMX

↑ Lake Austin Residence in Austin, TX by A Parallel Architecture

↑ The Interlock in London, UK by Bureau de Change; Photo: Gilbert McCarragher

↑ The Institute for Integrated Learning in Management in Greater Noida, India by Morphogenesis

↑ Staggered House in Athens, Greece schema architecture & engineering

↑ M·Cube in Beijing, China by MVRDV; Photo: Seth Powers Photography

↑ Housing for Elderly People in Huningue, France by Dominique Coulon & associés; Photo: Eugeni Pons

↑ Hello House in Melbourne, Australia by OOF! ...

Meet the bricklaying robot that can build a house in 3 days

2018-12-20T11:56:00-05:00

The 180-sqm, three bedroom, two bathroom structure was completed in under three days by Hadrian X, a new version of the robot.

Designed by an Australian company, Fast Brick Construction, the first version of Hadrian X was unveiled in 2015. Today the robot is capable of building and assessing a house from start to finish. Throughout its testing at the factory, it succeeded at completing a two-course structure, involving all combinations of brick cuts, sizes, and layering configurations; a larger two-room house from CAD model as well as an eleven-course pillar built from slab to cap height.

When supplied with a 3D model, the machine converts it into code that then uses proprietary software to calculate the location of every brick in the building. Once a concrete slab is laid, the laser-scanning technology surveys the foundation and then loads and arranges bricks using a 28m articulated telescopic boom. The components are held together by a special adhesive applied to each block through the robotic laying head. Hadrian X's laser alignment system provides an accuracy of within 0.5 mm.

Creating a mini building at your desk never seemed more fun

2018-12-12T18:58:00-05:00

Now featured in our Downtown LA retail store and online at Archinect Outpost, these miniature building materials will make your other office mates jealous.

The team at Mini Materials have created scaled construction toys that not only look amazing but are functional just like their life size counterparts. A perfect desk accessory or a neat gift for the building fanatic in your life, Mini Materials creates a wonderful take on making construction materials available and accessible for all to enjoy.

Made of actual concrete and brick materials, these miniature building pieces look and feel like the real thing. Available in an assortment of sizes and material types building enthusiasts can purchase cinder blocks, bricks, lumber, even a mini jersey barrier.

The founders of Mini Materials started their venture in 2015 after noticing that "the world was lacking realistic versions of the most common building materials used tod...