Rolling Huts / OSKA Architects

Responding to the owner’s need for space to house visiting friends and family, the Rolling Huts are several steps above camping, while remaining low-tech and low-impact in their design. The huts sit lightly on the site, a flood plain meadow in an alpine river valley. The owner purchased the site, formerly a RV campground, with the aim of allowing the landscape return to its natural state. The wheels lift the structures above the meadow, providing an unobstructed view into nature and the prospect of the surrounding mountains.

from Arch Daily by Nico Saieh

Santa Rita Geriatric Center / Manuel Ocaña

Geriatric centers should be optimistic places appealing to live in or to visit. The idea is to create a characteristic atmosphere in a vital space where spare time prevails and where residents spend the last years or months of their lives. The fact is that it is possible to build a geriatric center that does not look like a hospital, with neither corridors nor architectural barriers and on a single floor, in which all the rooms have direct access from (and towards) a garden that, as a sort of ‘lobby’, acts also as direct access towards (and from) the collective spaces.

from Arch Daily by Nico Saieh

3LHD architects: house k

house k is a residential project in the mountains of zagreb by the croatian studio 3LHD architects. the home’s shape was inspired by the shape of a snail’s shell, spiraling around its own axis. this was translated into the structure by wrapping the home’s elements around a central atrium which is outfitted with a spiral staircase to provide access to a rooftop patio. the atrium also helps light the interior.

photo by damir fabijanic
from Designboom - Weblog

cliff garten studios: avenue of light, los angeles

'avenue of light' by cliff garten studio will open on june 25, 2009 in the city of
fort worth, USA.

rising 36 feet above the streetscape, the six 'avenue of light' sculptures are both
transparent and opaque, depending on the viewer’s position and time of day.
each sculpture is made of 100 stainless steel plates, whose forms are derived from
architectural details in the nearby texas & pacific terminal, an art deco landmark.

from Designboom - Weblog

The Mill - Alingsås project Report

Berry van Egten from Berlux was the leader of group of workshop participants working on The Mill project as part of Alingsås workshop organised by PLDA every year.

The concept as was written by the group: “The Mill is reawakening. The water falling under the bridge is once again churning its power to bring Stampens Kvarn back to life. Once past The Mill, this energy fades, moving downstream under the second bridge and back to sleep”.

from ENLIGHTER.ORG by Mitja Prelovsek

foster + partners: zenith

the zenith concert venue in saint-etienne by london’s foster + partners has been granted a RIBA award. the project was completed late last year and is the region’s first purpose-built state-of-the-art performance venue. the zenith was co-designed by cabinet beger and features a distinctive cantilevered roof. the roof acts as a wind scoop to naturally ventilate the auditorium, reducing energy use. the front of the venue features a curved glass-enclosed lobby that leds into the expansive auditorium. inside the main space the venue can be configured in a number of arrangement for audiences ranging from 1,100 to 7,200.

photo credit nigel young (courtesy of foster + partners)
from Designboom - Weblog

Art Gallery of Ontario Re-Envisioned by Frank Gehry

The new AGO is Toronto-born Frank Gehry’s first building in Canada and marks the very place where he made the initial connection between art and architecture. Hallmarks of his AGO design connect the city and the Gallery in provocative new ways including dramatic sculptural staircases, the warmth of Douglas fir, andthe extensive use of glass which infuses the galleries with natural light. As you will discover, it is an extraordinary new home for extraordinary new art.

from CubeMe by Chantal

UCSD Price Center East / Yazdani Studio

The plan of the University of California at San Diego’s existing student center, the Price Center, was developed with an “introverted” configuration - a central courtyard bordered on three sides by all of the building’s program elements facing inward - that established a powerful sense of place and a hub for dining, socializing, and events. When the university’s growth necessitated an expansion of the Price Center, our solution was to create an “extroverted,” highly permeable addition offering many points of entry and features such as plazas and monumental staircases that engage the building’s surroundings and enrich the street experience.

Photographer: Timothy Hursley
from Arch Daily by Nico Saieh