“Pushing green design beyond the familiar incorporation of a list of LEED certified materials; this NoHo loft renovation rethinks the notion of an urban garden by literally bringing the outside in. Exterior wood decking and vegetation flow into the heart of the loft forming a planted core, a living green veil that screens the public living/dining room from the private master bedroom. The stair bulkhead doubles as a skylight and provides access to a roof terrace planted with sedum and grasses. This green core is tactile as well as a visual: the owner can bathe surrounded by lush vegetation visible through a glass wall that separates the bathroom from this planted zone. The rear of the bathroom is clad with modular plant panels. Surmounted by a skylight, this living wall is yet another element that vertically links roof and interior. An eco-friendly palette of natural and synthetic materials confound traditional distinctions between natural and artificial. When seen from entry, the planted core merges with the living lounge: the upholstered floor and seating evoke a textile garden, the interior counterpart to the roof terrace, where a bed of sedum defines a walk-able planted surface”.

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Continue reading ‘Joel Sanders creates eco-friendly NYC penthouse’

The EDITT Tower, which represents Ecological Design in the Tropics, was designed by Malaysian architecture firm TR Hamzah & Yeang with an eye toward sustainability, adaptability, and ecological improvement. It will employ photovoltaic panels to harness solar energy as well as a plant to convert sewage into biogas and fertilizer. Like many urban areas, Singapore’s ecosystem is considered “zero culture,” an ecologically devastated site cleared of vegetation. The plant life on the EDITT Tower will improve the region’s biodiversity and bring the populace in daily contact with a variety of plant life:

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Continue reading ‘Singapore’s Ecological Tower Trings “Greenery” To Urban Site’

What is a Klein Bottle?

“For us right-brain thinkers; in Mathematics, the “Klein Bottle” is a non-orientable surface, i.e., a surface (a two-dimensionaltopological space) with no distinction between the “inside” and “outside” surfaces. That being said and hopefully understood, this vacation home located just a few clicks outside Melbourne, Australia beautifully reflects a deep desire to mess with both sides of our brains. By constantly challenging our sense of perception, depth, linear orientation, interior/exterior space and pretty much any notion of what a dwelling should look like, the architects have successfully created a space that is surprisingly inviting and warm”.

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Continue reading ‘Klein Bottle House by Australian architects McBride Charles Ryan’

This project, originally intended by the competition organizer to be an Observation Tower, is re-imagined as an Observation Deck cantilevering out over Mersey River and the Seaforth Nature Reserve. This Deck is intended to integrate with the adjacent wetlands in a more sensitive way than a monolithic tower structure. It also allows the same unobstructed views as a higher structure would due to the horizontal nature of the surrounding environment. Nevertheless, the design includes several vertical Light Masts which give the project an iconic presence in the area and satisfy the competition criteria of a minimum 30M height.

Words by: Emergent Architecture

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Commissioned by Lance Clark, ROSO’s art installation at Clark Shoes Headquarters in Somerset this piece is situated in the communal court yard in the heart of Clarks office building.

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The MUSEUM LIAUNIG, industrialist and art collector Herbert W. Liaunig’s project in Neuhaus in Carinthia, opened at the end of August. The new museum is home to Liaunig’s collection of contemporary art and, as an interesting counterpoint, a collection of Akan gold objects. Herbert W. Liaunig, “The museum represents the fulfilment of a long-term wish of our family to create an adequate home for our collection. At the same time, as the only location displaying an overview of Austrian Post-war art in a permanent exhibition, it closes one of the major gaps in the Austrian museum landscape.”

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“The constructable volume, the singular character of this new building, its relationship with the urban periphery makes the new office building of Gas Natural a member of the family of contemporary buildings, that have started to appear on the skyline of the city. However this doesn’t mean the new building lacks a clear desire to become compatible with it urban surroundings; the small scale of the district of la Barceloneta, the surrounding houses and the park”.

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Continue reading ‘Gas Natural’s New Headquarters’

Built | 2008 | Bilbao | The lot locates in the crossroad of the two most important streets of the Ensanche (1862) in Bilbao. The restrictive city zonning rules force to repeat the existing building tipology, reducing penthousing, chamfering corners and rising a tower. The building groups together vertical communications and general services within a bone, a prism next to the dividing wall that serves to seven open-plan floors for offices. Above these, there are two more level for institutional and representative uses. The meeting room are placed at the top of the building,into the tower. By the contrary, the Auditory and its services rooms are in the cellar. Under all of this level exist three more floors used just for employees parking.

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Continue reading ‘Basque cityscape embraces New Health Department Headquarters’