Architecture

Whether you think "architecture should speak of its time and place, but yearn for timelessness," like Frank Gehry, or that "architecture is not an inspirational business, it's a rational procedure to do sensible and hopefully beautiful things; that's all," like Harry Seidler, advances in materials and design continue to expand the architect's play book with buildings that reach for the skies and connect us to the earth.

Architecture

Low-energy upstate home is barn house on the outside, Passive House on the inside

Nick Lavars September 21, 2018

The Mountain House in upstate New York, by Amalgam Studio, very much follows a low-energy approach to heating and cooling, while honoring the history of the area with all the aesthetic hallmarks of a good ol’ fashioned countryside barn.

The 5,000 sq ft (465 sq m) Mountain House is spread across three levels

Architecture

BIG designs new premises for award-winning Copenhagen restaurant

Adam Williams September 20, 2018

Bjarke Ingels Group recently completed a new premises for the award-winning noma restaurant. It incorporates a former military warehouse previously used to store mines for the Royal Danish Navy and has an interesting design described as a "restaurant village" by the firm.

The noma restaurant comprises a cluster of 11 buildings arranged around a central kitchen

Architecture

Kristie Wolfe turns 1950s fire lookout tower into a room with a view

Adam Williams September 19, 2018

Dressmaker and designer Kristie Wolfe previously built a Hawaiian treehouse on a shoestring budget, as well as a hobbit house in Washington State. Her latest project is a fire lookout tower dating back to the 1950s, which she has renovated into an Airbnb rental.

Crystal Peak Lookout is currently available to rent on Airbnb

Architecture

Striking fiber-reinforced plastic facade fronts new R&D facility

Adam Williams September 14, 2018

This new R&D facility by Morphosis was designed for South Korean textile specialist Kolon Group. It sports a distinctive shading system made from fiber-reinforced plastic, the same stuff used for bullet-proof vests, in construction, and elsewhere. It also boasts significant sustainable design.

The Kolon One & Only Tower would be a fairly standard-looking building, if not for its ...

Architecture

Modular patient room could make for quicker hospital builds

Ben Coxworth September 13, 2018

When cruise ships are being built, the cabins are just slotted in as prefabricated modules – it's faster and easier than building each one from scratch. Well, Philadelphia-based EIR Healthcare is taking the same approach to hospital-building, with its MedModular prefab patient rooms.

Multiple MedModular rooms can be fitted together like Lego

Architecture

Spy Glass beach hut rotates to take in the sights

Adam Williams September 13, 2018

This charming little beach hut in England named the Spy Glass is designed to look like an oversized pair of old-fashioned coin-fed binoculars. It rests atop a turntable that rotates it 180 degrees, allowing its occupants to change the view to suit.

The Spy Glass rests atop a repurposed heavy-duty vehicle turntable that allows it to rotate

Architecture

Which of these buildings will RIBA name the world's best?

Adam Williams September 13, 2018

Greenery-covered high-rises, a high-end music school, a wooden boarding school, and a university that blends old with new all feature in this year's RIBA International Prize shortlist. Just one will be named the best later this year.

The Toho Gakuen School of Music is one of the four projects shortlisted for RIBA's International ...

Architecture

Striking Forest House keeps it concreted and classy on wooded coastline

Nick Lavars September 12, 2018

The Forest House on Argentina’s Atlantic coastline takes the use of concrete to the extreme, using it to cover almost every square inch, which actually works to blend in seamlessly with the tones of its wooded surrounds.

The rooftop of the Forest House was designed as a green terrace to boost thermal insulation

Architecture

Un-bee-lievable: 2018 Shed of the Year winner crowned

Adam Williams September 12, 2018

Following the unveiling of the 2018 shortlist last month, an overall winner of the 11th annual Cuprinol Shed of the Year has now been declared. Sheffield sheddie George Smallwood got the nod for his Bee Eco Shed, a haven for honeybees and other insects.

The Bee Eco Shed is the 11th annual Cuprinol Shed of the Year winner

Architecture

There's more to this Zaha Hadid-designed billboard than meets the eye

Adam Williams September 11, 2018

Whether an architectural masterpiece or a toilet, Zaha Hadid's design language is recognizable in all her work. We're reminded of this again by a new billboard conceived by the late Hadid and longtime collaborator Patrik Schumacher that was recently installed on a busy road in London.

To the front, the Kensington billboard displays adverts to London drivers, while pedestrians at the rear ...