Tag Archives: Architectural Designs

Wooden Architectural Designs that show why wood, as a material, will always be in trend!

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Wood has been the material of choice for construction across centuries. From a simple abode to even a sustainable football stadium, wooden designs are back to rule the future. The reason for it is simple, wood ages beautifully – anything built with wood will retain the character of your house. From the floorboards to the roof, each of this wooden house designs showcase this material in a spectacular way that will meet your style- be it modern or traditional!

Persimmon Hills Architect, a Japanese architectural studio has designed this timber Kannondō, or main hall to the Buddhist Houshouin temple for the once prosperous town of Sugito. The studio hopes to revive this local community that has thinned out due to the population moving out to the bigger cities. The revived Houshouin Kannondō feels airy, spiritual, modern yet accessible., encouraging the community interaction and lift their spirits.

The Yomogidai house in Nagoya, Japan designed by Tomoaki Uno architects holds a long and narrow construction with a blind street facade, with it’s windowless design making it stand out in the crowd. To allow for natural lighting, the back of the house holds a complete window with a gable roof to provide a sheltered roof.

These cabins hover almost five meters above the ground, keeping the cabins free from the snow-covered slopes while being surrounded by trees to maintain the privacy of each cabin. Built by Minnesota-based HGA Architects and Engineers, the designers say “The concept for the cabins riffs on the idea of a tree house, but instead makes them accessible to all by building ‘houses in the trees’ that can be entered from a bridge at the crest of the hill, along adjacent ski and hiking trails,” The studio used red cedar wood to create the design, “Dark cedar shingles on the exterior blend seamlessly with the beauty of the pine forest while the interior is stained naturally to create an immersive warm environment,” said the firm.

Cantilevering off the edge of the mountain slope, this restaurant designed by architects Peter Pichler Architecture and Pavol Mikolajcak, the Oberholz Mountain Hut restaurant for the Oberholz ski resort is set on a small mound, giving sweeping views of the ski slopes! The structure splits into three volumes that face off into different angles of the hillside.

Stacking up 61 tree trunks, John Pawson creates a space of rest and contemplation on a cycle route in southwest Germany. Named the Wooden Chapel, Pawson said “The client wanted to provide sanctuary or contemplation space.” Using trunks of Douglas fir with minimal cutting or enhancement of design, Pawson explains, “It’s just trunks of Douglas fir stacked on top of each other, there’s a minimum of cuts, so everything is solid.”

The world’s first wooden football stadium is being built by Zaha Hadid Architects in Gloucestershire, England for football club Forest Green Rovers. The aim of the design is to be the greenest football stadium by being powered by sustainable energy sources. The 5000-seat timber stadium includes an all-weather pitch and included a different landscaping strategy to mitigate worries that the stadium design did not sufficiently make up for the loss of green fields it will be built on.

Antony Gibbons presents an combination of geometric designs to create this house named ‘Kuroi Ki’, which literally translates to ‘black wood’. This dark wooden exterior is derived from the use of clad charred wood finish for this dwelling. The angular structure is organized around a patio space that allows for a private space protected by the tall structures on each side.

Bangkok-based firm Department of Architecture Co. incorporates a façade of wood and polycarbonate shingles, laid out like fish scales that shimmer in the daylight. ‘Although working with the traditional shingle system, the uninterrupted translucency surface is achieved by a special detail design using translucent studs and special transparent screws,’ the studio explains. ‘The façade is glittering in the sun as the light touches different material grains, from the solid wood shingles to the different translucency levels of the polycarbonate shingles.’

‘We wanted to build a house with the same consideration and attention to detail we put into our furniture and lighting,’ explains Tom Raffield. ‘Designing objects for other people to put in their home is an incredible privilege, we’d never design anything that we wouldn’t have in our own home, but we’d never had a chance to design for our own space before.’ This two-storey dwelling in rural England has been wrapped with stream-bent wood which is what Raffield’s company is known for – using a pioneering form of steam-bending to create hand-shaped items of furniture and sculptural works of art.

Tomoaki Uno Architects is back with the Ogimachi House, a pared-back and therapeutic home.The sky-lit dwelling in Nagoya was commissioned by a young client for his mother, who required a private and calming space to help her recover from an illness. Tomoaki Uno Architects’ design is deliberately simple, and built almost entirely from wood in recognition of the material’s physical and psychological benefits. The house is constructed without any windows, and instead relies on 37 skylights for natural light to create an environment of healing. “One of the most important considerations in this home is how it relates to private and social,” added Uno.

Studiobase Architects features a sustainable design that focuses on nature in this restaurant located in Taichung, Taiwan. The restaurant is located in front of a discarded train station mainly used for timber transportation, uses this as an inspiration that is replicated throughout the design.

If you love innovative architectural designs, check out more concrete and brick-based architectural designs to inspire you!

Brick Architectural Designs that pay homage to the past while inspiring the future!

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Imagine a castle and it will be made of stone or bricks…that is how old bricks are! Red and rustic, bricks have come back in fashion with the brutal or raw architectural trend that has gripped modern architecture. And we have to agree, they provide a jarring contrast to the sleek glass towers, standing like gentle giants or wise kings of the old in the modern cityscape. Using bricks to give a modern-day look, all the designs featured here are futuristic yet preserve the heritage aesthetics that add value or character to your building!

Brick being a traditionally tough material, it is difficult to envision this material for creating a curved surface. But that is exactly what Studio Olafur Eliasson has done with their very first construction in Denmark. Named the Fjord House, the project is commissioned by KIRK Capital to showcase the building’s relationship to the harbor. ‘I am very thankful for the trust shown by the Kirk Johansen family in inviting me, with my studio, to conceive Fjordenhus,’ Eliasson says. ‘This allowed us to turn years of research — on perception, physical movement, light, nature, and the experience of space — into a building that is at once a total work of art and a fully functional architectural structure. In the design team, we experimented from early on with how to create an organic building that would respond to the ebb and flow of the tides, to the shimmering surface of the water, changing at different times of the day and of the year. The curving walls of the building transform our perception of it as we move through its spaces. I hope the residents of Vejle will embrace Fjordenhus and identify with it as a new landmark for the harbor and their city.’

MVRDV continues to awe, astonish, and wow us with this transparent brick store created for Hermès, situated in Amsterdam. Using glass bricks, the studio created the jewel-like sparkling exterior to merge the high-end luxury aesthetics necessary for Hermès with the historical brick facade that has been iconic to the Amsterdam landscape.

Tadao Ando, a Japanese architect had transformed a Chicago based building into an architecture exhibition center, using raw concrete and glass to create a wealth of contrast along with balancing the feel of old and new. This exhibition center, named Wrightwood 659 is a four-storey structure with a concrete staircase that wraps around one pillar while being highlighted with rectangular windows that provide ample natural lighting. Looking ta this, it looks like Tadao tried to highlight all the essential building blocks to great architecture – brick, concrete, glass – which is fitting for an architectural exhibit.

It’s always interesting when architects design and create their own homes. It is a chance for them to unleash their creativity as they see fit, build that dream design they always wanted to build and that is exactly what Dutch architects Gwendolyn Huisman and Marijn Boterman did when creating this skinny black brick building that is their home. The house, while looking opulent in black bricks from outside houses hidden windows and a huge indoor hammock to add fun to the place!

The Musée Yves Saint Laurent Marrakech (mYSLm) stands tall with a two-toned brick facade that pays homage to the natural environment found in Marrakesh. The museum houses important selection from the fondation Pierre bergé – Yves Saint Laurent’s impressive collection, which includes 5,000 items of clothing, 15,000 haute couture accessories, along with tens of thousands of sketches and assorted objects. Designed by the French Studio KO, the building is made up of cubic forms, that come to form a pattern that resembles interwoven threads.

With sweeping arches made of brick and an abundance of natural lighting, this residential complex by Muhamad Samiei is the perfect example of how modern architecture can adopt brick surfaces. In an attempt at changing the traditional tower design, this design uses the flow of the structure to create separate spaces within the enclosure, resulting in a harmonious balance of space-saving and utilizing space whereas the use of bricks pays homage to the past while looking futuristic in the same design.

India is known for its vibrant colors and it is those colors that the Surat-based studio Design Work Group has brought to life in this rippling brick facade. The Location of the building, being on a crossroads inspired the architects to have some fun with it, by using two different materials – concrete and brick to create a unique look on each road-facing side of the structure.

When a building is named ‘Cuckoo House’, you know you are in for a fun treat! This unusually shaped residence is by the architectural firm Tropical Space in Vietnam and sits above a coffee shop. The entrance to this home starts with an elevated terrace with more smaller terraces created to add ventilation and natural light inside the home. Given the local climate, the house is designed to make complete use of the indoors as well as the outdoors on warm balmy days.

CTA | creative architects have designed the Wall House in Vietnam, named for the use of unique breathing walls designed by the STudio for this house. After realizing that indoor air pollution was a major health hazard in Vietnam, the team decided to build a protective layer of hollow bricks around the house to facilitate the growth of greenery in the walls with ease. This technique creates an all-natural purification system that works on its own!

A drama theater built with some more drama, that is what Drozdov & Partners have created when they redesigned the ‘Teatr na Podoli’, a drama theater in Ukraine. What is the drama you ask? Its the use of recycled bricks made up of titanium and zinc that clad the higher levels of this theater, balancing the old school aesthetics with the beige brick-work in contrast to the modern metallic bricks that highlight the top.

Think concrete is the better choice of materials rather than brick? Check these concrete-based designs that show why concrete may be the futuristic material of choice!

Concrete Architectural Designs that show why it is the future of modern architecture!

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Concrete has long been identified as the more brutal and raw architectural style. Almost giving things an unfinished look, concrete designs now have their own brutalist movement. Concrete designs, with their raw facade, create a jarring yet beautiful contrast to the modern landscape scenario dominated by glass skyscrapers but have traditionally been very bold in their style. That is until we came across these architectural designs. Reinventing concrete for the modern world, each of the designs here has incorporated concrete in a modern, almost futuristic design, showcasing why this would be the perfect material to bring in modern architecture!

Almost surreal in appearance, the ‘House Inside a Rock’ by Amey Kandalgaonkar creates a contrast – using a natural stone shape carved from years of battling with nature and a concrete and glass interior to carve out the living space. Taking influence from the rock-cut tomb architecture of Saudi Arabia’s Madain Saleh, this ancient archaeological site is the perfect mix of the old and the new. The designer of the concept says, “When I first saw the images of rock cut-tomb architecture, I knew I had to use it as an inspiration in an architectural project. There is a huge amount of architectural heritage laid out for us by past builders and I believe they did a great job of integrating built environments in natural elements.”

Takei Nabeshima Architects uses concrete as its material of choice for this rendering of an extremely luxurious and futuristic holiday home. A part of the series titled ‘Solo Houses‘, the Tokyo-based practice, led by Makoto Takei and Chie Nabeshima, is one of the 15 firms commissioned by Bourdais to create an ultimate holiday home, which will eventually be built in Spain’s mountainous Matarraña region as part of his Solo Houses project.

You can’t deny the charm that is ever-present in an old site. Chinese architect Zhang Ke came across such a site and converted it into a slotted hostel, featuring tiny rooms while maintaining the sanctity of the space. The aim of this project is to highlight the potential in these traditional courtyard neighborhoods that are gradually being demolished by modern architecture. “The goal of this project – a 30 square meter hostel – is to search for possibilities of creating ultra-small scale social housing within the limitations of super-tight traditional hutong of Beijing” they explained.

Another exceptional design by architect Amey Kandalgaonkar, this design titles ‘House in the desert’ imagines a shaped carved out by the strong winds that relentlessly blow across the desert landscape. The design wraps around a natural rock formation, almost preserving the texture of the original formation. Almost embracing the rock, the design plays with the juxtaposition of the old against the new and how we see a future where they both could coexist in peace.

Heatherwick Studio’s Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (MOCAA) is the world’s largest museum dedicated to African contemporary art. The design pays homage to its location, Cape Town by integrating aa grain silo into the nine-floor structure. Heatherwick describes one of the design challenges when he said, ‘We were excited by the opportunity to unlock this formerly dead structure and transform it into somewhere for people to see and enjoy the most incredible artworks from the continent of Africa. the technical challenge was to find a way to carve out spaces and galleries from the ten-story high tubular honeycomb without completely destroying the authenticity of the original building.’

Bringing concrete to a more everyday structure, this extension designed by Paul Archer Design contrasts the brutal minimalism of concrete with glass panels to allow for plenty of light to enter this kitchen space. “This strip of yard that runs alongside the rear wing between the neighboring garden wall is often overshadowed and underutilized,” said the architects. “It provides an obvious area to extend the kitchen, dining, and living spaces into, to suit the needs of the owners,” explained the design team.

This cluster of holiday apartments by IDMM Architects in South Korea’s Gangwon region features angular concrete and glass volumes that thrust outwards from a sloping site to ensure optimal views. Architect Heesoo Kwak and his Seoul-based studio IDMM Architects designed U Retreat for a site in the Sari-gol valley, which is bordered by steep cliffs. The angular modern design is lent a functional appeal with the outward-facing windows that provide everyone a beautiful view of the valley.

For this residential project, architects Ekaterina Künzel and María Belén García Bottazzini collaborated to create a family-friendly home by using bare concrete combined with black-colored elements for the exterior and common spaces. The house boast of muted wooden interiors with negative spaces breaking up the monotony of the heavy concrete exterior, creating a modern vibrant look. Designed for a family, this light and airy space promises a lot of great memories.

Architect Ludwig Godefroy has designed Casa Mérida, a fragmented concrete house that references the sacred Mayan Roads. The house spans an 80-meter-long site in Mérida, Mexico, which is known as the capital of the indigenous Mayan civilization. The house is based on Sacbe, an ancient Mayan road system that was used to connect different communities.

Studio Arhitektura d.o.o has designed a low concrete house that surrounds a central courtyard, connecting the homeowners living spaces with their ceramics studio. Called House for a Ceramic Designer, the concrete exterior belies the delicate balance retained within the house. We love the special attention to use of concrete and the flowing concrete chair positioned in the yard of the house. “The atrium was designed to unite the family’s living quarters and the working studio of its owner under one roof,” explained Arhitektura d.o.o. “The house is closed from its visually busy immediate surroundings, which will undergo unpredictable development in the future, while at the same time providing a well-lit and fully connected living and working space.”

Apple and Foster+Partners bring modern architecture to life with these iconic Apple Store designs

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What happens when the most famous tech company in the world, known for its attention to detail and design skills meets up with an architectural powerhouse with skills to bring their dreams to life? We get these landmark structures. Apple has partnered up with Foster+Partners repeatedly to successfully design a store that represents not only Apple‘s design philosophy but also to reflect and respect the nature of the environment they are building the store in. Each store design has been drafted with love to create these stores, that is not just a store, but rather an experience.

Deemed as one of the “most ambitious” projects by Foster+Partners, the Apple Store for Chicago boasts a slim wooden panel roof whose shape is inspired by the company’s MacBook design. Located on the city’s river edge beside the North Michigan Avenue, Apple’s chief designer Jonathan Ive says about the store, “Apple Michigan Avenue is about removing boundaries between inside and outside, reviving important urban connections within the city.”

With Singapore officially ranking as the greenest city in Asia, the design of Apple Orchard Road, the first Apple flagship in the city is one of the greenest Apple spaces ever built by Foster+Partners. The building’s most prominent feature is its trees – including eight mature trees at the entrance and the twelve ficus trees inside. Taking the term ‘Going Green’ in a more detailed manner, the building, named Genius Grove (and not Genius Bar!) is designed to be sustainable by integrating an array of technology that ensures all the energy used in the architecture is pulled from renewable sources.

The Apple store in Milan has a theatrical appeal to it – the store actually is ‘sunken’ in the plaza, with fountains creating a wall of water through which everyone enters whereas the steps leading to the store form an amphitheater, with the water creating a dramatic backdrop to the stage. “The fountain is an expression of child-like excitement that speaks to each one of us,” said Stefan Behling, head of the studio at Foster + Partners. “In its simplicity, it echoes the idea of walking into a big fountain without getting wet and the joy of being alive.”

Apple’s landmark store in China is the Hangzhou store and it is characterized by a 15-meter-high glowing ceiling and glass staircases, all adding to the white, almost minimal yet modern design aesthetics that Apple sports. According to Foster + Partners, the design “combines an understanding of the local context with the philosophy of simplicity, beauty, and technical innovation that characterizes Apple’s products”.

Meet the Apple Xinyi A13. Situated in Taipei, this vibrantly hip area is full of modern stores and the original skyscraper that hosts the store creates an oasis of calm. The attraction of this store is the use of water to balance the surroundings – the store is flanked on both sides by water sculptures. These basalt sculptures let the water flow over them, creating a serene mirror effect that shows the surroundings reflected against a black backdrop.

Apple’s most iconic store is the one located on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, with the majority of the store located below the plaza. The store was completed by Bohlin Cywinski Jackson in 2006, with an “iconic glass cube” but was redesigned by Foster + Partners in 2019. Being an iconic location, this was one of the most photographed attractions in the city and was Steve Jobs’ defining symbol for Apple Fifth Avenue. “It’s a 100 percent design collaboration with Jony,” Foster + Partners’ head of studio Stefan Behling said after completing the overhaul in collaboration with Jony Ive.

Kyoto being the cultural capital of Japan, the Apple store in Kyoto reflects the serene nature of the city. Foster + Partners used the aesthetics of a paper lantern to convey this feeling. Simple and minimal in its design, the storefront has an almost translucent facade, thanks to the internal wall of paper panels that stands just beyond the glass and aluminum exterior.

The Apple Store on the Champs-Élysées in Paris holds an almost magical charm that blends in with Paris’s well-earned reputation of being the city of love. Located on the corner of Champs-Élysées and Rue Washington, the store has been built within what is described by Foster + Partners as an “quintessential Parisian apartment”. The store carefully merges the existing architecture of the apartment with modern interiors to balance both – the old and the new age worlds. The pièce de résistance, however, is the kaleidoscopic solar roof made up of glass pyramids (maybe paying homage to the glass pyramids at the Louvre Museum?) that bathes the interior of the store with beautifully dappled sunlight.

The Apple store in Macau resembles a translucent cube, emanating an aura of tranquility and inviting people by creating a contrast to the bustling city it sits in. Foster+Partners amplified this feeling with the addition of a bamboo grove on the exterior of the store, creating an almost physical barrier to separate the two environments. The theme of using bamboo plants is repeated throughout the interiors as well, with a central bamboo grove that is highlighted with skylights, giving it an otherworldly glow.

Apple’s latest store in Tokyo has a row of two-storey protruding windows, giving the outsiders walking by a view from these cabinet-like windows. Designed by Foster + Partners and positioned near the Imperial Palace, Marunouchi, these protruding windows have been cast using aluminum, reflecting the use of aluminum in the Apple devices. Balancing the concrete and aluminum exterior are bamboo plants that maintain a sense of tranquility in this busy city.

Apple’s attention to detail is carried onto their store designs, each one a mix of their design values and the culture of the location the stores are present in. After all, that is the point of great architectural design- to reflect the values of its owner without disrupting the harmony of its location.

Kitchen Designs that become your interior design inspiration!

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Growing up in a large extended family, gatherings were common and they would all center around the kitchen. Kitchens have always held a special space in my memories, so designing the same needs special attention! The designs we bring to you today are kitchens equipped to handle anything that comes their way! Minimal, modern, colorful, and elegant, we are sure these kitchen designs will match your vibe and inspire you to create your happy space!

An open-plan kitchen is difficult to merge with the rest of the house while making it stand apart. This kitchen is a part of a house built by a high school sweetheart couple who have detailed their journey of designing their dream house on IG under the page @ahousewebuilt. The underlying theme throughout the interior is a combination of earthy tones with black highlights to create a focal point.

A mix of teal and black accent furnishings and light wooden cabinets gives this kitchen an intriguing mix of retro yet modern feels. Designed by Madeleine, this kitchen is perfect for those who want the best of both worlds!

This modern kitchen design by Edvinas Skiestenis is perfect for our modern homes! Matte black countertops, shelves, and cabinets manage to add a sleek urban feel.

Mysha of @remingtonavenue is an expert at using a mix of wood, metal, and also DIY-ing designs to create a harmonious layout! Each part of her kitchen uses a mix of white and gold without making it overtly feminine with the use of gold burnished metal lamps that balance the space.

Dark yet fresh, that is exactly how I would describe this contrast filled kitchen design by Margaret Naeve Parker. The dark kitchen cabinets make the modern chrome-finish appliances stand out, giving this kitchen a modern look.

I wouldn’t mind whipping up some breakfast in this beach-facing kitchen by Gicinque Cucine! Minimal wooden stools and a wooden kitchen counter are accompanied by breathtaking views of the ocean.

“We wanted it to be open yet connected,” the owner says. “We wanted living to be downstairs and sleeping to be upstairs.” Designer Eric Olsen designed a great room in the middle connects to the kitchen, and a guest suite wraps around the left side. And we can’t help but love the hanging lamps that create a focal point as well as a differentiation between the two spaces.

Man-cave meet kitchen! Leather, hues of copper, and warm accents fill up this kitchen design by Lori Clarke Design. But the focal point of this entire setup is the copper hood that dominates the place while giving the modern kitchen a touch of the antique.

Do you dare to blue? This kitchen is surely inspiring us to go bluer! Designed by Evan Ljunghag, Joshua Coffie of Vigeo Construction uses blue tiles in the backsplash to create a contrast that makes your kitchen stand apart with ease.

Sometimes we should just let nature do the talking, or in this case, the beautiful wooden countertop with its natural curves should do the talking. PureHaven Homes designed this kitchen with a massive wooden platform that acts as a separator as well as a bar set up in this kitchen that feels perfect for any bachelor pad!

 

Need the perfect appliances for your newly inspired kitchen? Check out our collection of innovative appliances that will help you unleash your inner chef!

Architectural Designs focusing on balconies designed to help you unwind

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Balcony designs are often overlooked. Now especially, in quarantine do we realize our need for that little nook that lets you connect to the outside world. But when you pay attention, that balcony space converts into a haven where you can spend some time and rejuvenate. Architects who realize this have also realise that balconies, from the exterior, create a visually interesting focal point that will help their creations stand apart. The designs curated here showcase this collection of buildings and home that have certainly made their balcony space, their personal space!

Zigzagging balconies with larch railings in the Ragnitzstrasse 36, Austria, enliven the facade of this apartment block in Graz, Austria, by Love Architecture and Urbanism. “Building cost and flat size were the big issues in this project. Besides that we had a free hand to design something unique,” says architect Bernhard Schönherr. “This building’s overall architectural character is defined by relatively inexpensive building components, such as the balconies.”

The Opus is a mirrored glass building occupied by a hotel, offices, serviced apartments, and several restaurants, set in Dubai’s Burj Khalifa district. The exteriors of the building were completed last year and the ME Dubai at the Opus is the only hotel in the world that can claim to have had both it’s exterior and interiors designed by the late Zaha Hadid. The interior is highlighted with furniture by Zaha Hadid Design and curving sculptural balconies that give the building a unique aesthetic.

Grillagh Water House by Patrick Bradley is made up of four stacked shipping containers! A balcony shaded by steel fins projects from the upper storey of this house in Northern Ireland, which this architect and farmer built using four used shipping containers. “I didn’t want to change the idea or the aesthetics of the design but I had to come up with an alternative that was more affordable and that’s where the idea for shipping containers came from,” says Bradley.

Overlooking the Atlantic ocean on the island of the Gomera in the canary islands, a simple metal guard rail is replaced by a contemporary concrete structure with a glass balcony that projects 200 meters from the cliff.

Not everyone has the luxury of creating our own balcony but worry not. Velux, the window manufacturer has come up with a new system that adds not only light and air to your interior spaces but also a balcony. Dubbed the Cabrio, this window system is perfect for attic rooms or any dark interior space under a pitched roof.

Balconies fan out like leaves from the mixed-use L’Arbre Blanc tower, which Sou Fujimoto has completed in Montpellier with Nicolas Laisné, Dimitri Roussel, and OXO Architectes. Modeled on the shape of a tree, the curved 17-storey building contains 113 apartments with cantilevering balconies, alongside publicly accessible facilities on the ground floor and rooftop.

A striking facade of protruding balconies make up the exterior of this residential building in Poland, which has been designed by local architecture firm KWK Promes. Located in the center of Katowice – once a dynamically developing industrial city – UNIKATO is a low budget building, which re-establishes life in what is now a depopulating downtown dominated with car traffic.

Balconies are surely space for you to mold as per your needs. But in the future, what purpose do these balconies play? MVRDV has collaborated with Airbus, Bauhaus Luftfahrt, ETH Zurich, and Systra, to develop a plan for the future of urban air mobility (UAM). The investigation tackles the integration of ‘flying vehicles’ into our urban environments and envisions a comprehensive mobility concept. over the last two years, MVRDV has supported airbus in exploring strategic urban development scenarios that leverage UAM as an opportunity to grow cities around the globe into thriving urban regions. Together they have produced a study aimed to avoid any detrimental impacts from this disruptive technology, which can so easily arise when truly revolutionary transport modes are introduced to cities without careful planning for both short-term and long-term scenarios.

Concrete balconies filled with tropical plants cover the Chicland hotel in Danang, Vietnam, designed by Vo Trong Nghia. Overlooking the sea on the coastal road of Vo Nguyen Giap, every room of the 21-storey hotel has its own tropical garden. Along with 129 bedrooms, the slim tower houses a coffee house, spa, bars, and a restaurant and is topped by an infinity pool and sky bar. Chicland’s entrance sits directly off the promenade alongside the popular My Khe Beach.

Local studio Peripheriques Marin+Trottin and Jumeau Architectes has completed an apartment complex on L’Ile-Saint-Denis in Paris, which features wavy balconies enclosed by a ribbon of perforated metal. The development is situated on a plot overlooking the Seine river, which is undergoing significant redevelopment ahead of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. The building features eight storeys, with some duplex apartments incorporated on the top floor. A pair of private courtyards create a direct passage through the complex from the street to the pedestrian alleyway behind.

Architectural Renders that showcase a surreal future where nature rules our modern homes!

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We all know how beautiful nature is – we continuously draw inspiration from it and set up space outside our homes for things to grow in an organized manner. But what if nature decided to overrun our boundaries and step into our homes? It sounds scary, but the result imagined by designer Alexis Christodoulou (@teaaalexis) is strikingly beautiful! Alexis imagines a world where humans have taken a step back (maybe the quarantine is still ongoing there!) and let the flowers, grass, and all the other myriad plants enter our home. Surreal but beautiful, the untouched nature tells a story of peace and harmony in each of these landscapes!

We all love a sunken seating arrangement, but Alexis elevates that situation to a whole new level. Replacing a modern living room with a field of flowers, Alexis brings the escapism to your living room.

A minimal, pristine white corridor that replaces the traditional accent rugs with something even more traditional – a carpet of flowers with a pathway running through it! Let nature come in and rule our creations to make them even better.

Autumn flows through this balcony with hues of red to yellow flourishing in there! Just looking at this render showcases the warmth of this season. If only we could smell the earthiness in the air, we would be transported to that space.

Corals come out from under the sea to meet the land in this Greece-inspired render. Now just imagine sitting on that chair and watching the sunset, it would be one of the most beautiful sunsets ever!

Green is scientifically known to cool our eyes and calm us down. It is that feeling of calm that washes over you when you look at this wall of green outside your home instead of the boring old fence!

Titled Population 001, this place is the perfect setting for one! A setting designed to help you focus and grow, this place is all set for one individual to rule.

Usually leaving a window open invites bugs and some good old-fashioned dust. But in Alexis’s world, your bathroom gets overrun by a pink weed that makes the old white tiles look retro and fashionable.

Remember those dream sequences commonly showed in movies, where children run through a field of flowers with their hands running across the flowers…this render looks like a top view of that field, only with much cooler colors!

Greenhouses may be green (logically speaking) but this one is offset by hues of rust and bronze! Maybe this is what the greenhouse on Planet Mars looks like.

Is a pool a pool if it’s orange and not blue? I truly don’t know the answer to it but it sure looks surreal yet beautiful.

Each render by Alexis is an escape to a dreamland we want to be in, situated in a space overrun by nature, away from all the clutter mankind imposes on the planet and until that happens, we can count on more designs by Alexis to keep us going!

Award-winning skyscraper designs that aim to protect earth from humanity’s mistakes

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Skyscrapers have long been a symbol of status and power. I mean, who wouldn’t want to be quarantined in a skyscraper right now with a beautiful, uninterrupted view of the skies to help them pass time? But eVolo’s Skyscraper Competition aims to give these status symbols a whole new purpose. Established in 2006, the annual Skyscraper Competition is one of the world’s most prestigious awards for high-rise architecture. It recognizes outstanding ideas that redefine skyscraper design through the implementation of novel technologies, materials, programs, aesthetics, and spatial organizations; along with studies on globalization, flexibility, adaptability, and the digital revolution. It is a forum that examines the relationship between the skyscraper and the natural world, the skyscraper and the community, and the skyscraper and the city. With the 2020 winners just released, we picked the best designs from the winners to show how each design is aimed at solving a problem, healing the planet, and creating a better future for all of us.

Designed as an entrant for the 2020 eVolo Skyscraper Competition, the 737 Max Tower turns one of the world’s most controversial aircraft of modern times into housing. The Boeing 737 Max made headlines after its launch in 2016 when it was revealed that the aircraft’s own internal software was causing the plane to malfunction and take nosedive. This malfunction caused two 737 Max planes to fatally crash with passengers on board, throwing the entire line of planes into question. “What about the planes that have already been made though?”, thought designers Victor Hugo Azevedo and Cheryl Lu Xu. The 737 Max Skyscraper leverages the architectural potential of an aircraft, converting it into a series of budget residences for the homeless. The aircrafts are stacked vertically and trimmed to form the basic shape of a literal Jenga-tower of airplanes.

Climate change, global warming, and rising sea levels sound like a certainty given our lifestyle. Granted, COVID-19 has given us a pause, but what happens when we resume life? The Coast Breakwater by Charles Tzu Wei Chiang and Alejandro Moreno Guerrero is a solution for our sea-facing cities that are being threatened by extinction! St. Louis, Senegal, located in the northwest part of the country, near the mouth of The Senegal River, has been home to fishermen for generations. It is a hostile territory where there are constant confrontations with the neighboring countries regarding the established fishing boundaries and territories. In addition to the political and social problems, the region is affected by the rising sea level. Such natural phenomenon has forced the community to move inland, away from the shore. This proposal is based on traditional pillar structures, which are used to prevent erosion. These structures will serve as a foundation for the new vertical housing units. The project is also inspired by Senegal’s traditional wooden architecture that uses a complex arch system with tensile structures. The system allows a high degree of adaptability and extendibility to create a new community by the sea challenging the rising sea level. This idea won them third place in 2020 eVolo Skyscraper Competition.

Imagine a skyscraper without an elevator…Like Thor’s hammer, only those who can reach the top of this skyscraper by walking up the flight of stairs deserves to own this luxurious landscape. The Egalitarian Nature skyscraper by Yutian Tang, Yuntao Xu imagines a new building typology driven by the human urge for nature instead of capital. The traditional skyscraper is reimagined as a mountain range that provides a new way to experience nature within an urban environment. A zigzag-climbing path is developed along with abstract spaces that encourage an unexpected engagement between people and nature. And with no elevators but a 50th-floor high-rise apartment instead, getting groceries will be the new workout!

How many of you are aware of combustible ice? Typically a frozen mixture of water and concentrated natural gas, it can be lit on fire in its frozen state and is believed to comprise one of the world’s most abundant fossil fuels. While we dig into the seas to fuel our consumption, the problem of marine garbage is becoming more and more serious. Because of plastic’s structural characteristics, it will not be easily corroded by the seawater. Therefore, designers Xuejun Bai, Chucheng Pang, Lei Zhai, Yuyang Sun, Dianao Liu came up with the idea of using local materials, turning plastic waste into 3d-printed materials, as our own building materials, and filling cracks in the seabed caused by combustible ice mining to prevent secondary disasters. “In order to solve the energy and environmental problems to the greatest extent, we install the location with the highest coincidence of combustible ice and marine waste as the building site. There are two main moving lines in the building, the downward materials, and the upward energy. Among them, the energy tower transforms the plastic waste on the sea into 3D printing materials, and prints the building and energy tank down along the core cylinder, turning itself into a building with growth. In addition, the energy tower exploits the combustible ice from the seabed and stores it in the energy tank after being pressurized and liquefied, and then transports it to the cargo ship through the equipment such as track and a mechanical arm, and finally brings it back to the city, becoming new clean energy in the city.”

2020 arrived, bringing with it Corona that started in Wuhan and spread across China with the Chinese government building an entire hospital in just 10 days to support the sick. While this battle is ongoing, the future looks scary and solutions are needed to resolve such urgent requests. As global citizens and architects, Ngo Thanh Ha Tien and Dao Duy Tung were thinking of a system of pandemic emergency supply station, whose target is to brave a situation like this of a virus’ outbreak. Its main function will be urgent care service in order to fill in the inadequate hospital resources with a program of diagnosis room, intensive therapy, treatment room, bed-care area with medical equipment… Especially, to meet the emergency requirement, the building has to use modularization technology (kind of like stacking LEGO bricks to quickly build up a tower) in order to be assembled in a very short time. Vertically configured buildings facilitate more efficient infrastructure in the case of metropolises, which also are primary zone in case of a pandemic outbreak. This emergency supply station is capable of adapting to many terrains, especially in areas with poorly prepared for an epidemic, such as Africa, Asia, South America…

The Floating City design by Zijie Nie, Chen Shen, Jian Zheng is based in Kiribati, an island country in the South Pacific. This reef-preserving country is particularly vulnerable to the rising sea level issues, and its territory is thought likely to disappear within the next 60 years. The design proposes to constructs a series of wall-like skyscrapers in the offshore waters and combats the problems caused by rising sea levels in three aspects. First, by studying the erosion of the coast and the direction of the ocean currents, the design of the architectural massing is used to slow down the speed of the ocean currents flowing around the building. With such a method, the sand and mud in the water are able to deposit as sediment and gradually cultivate the new islands over time. Second, with the design of skyscraper, land area submerged by seawater was transferred to the air, and thousands of residential units were built in the air to provide a place for people to live and use, protecting them from natural disasters such as hurricane and flood. Thirdly, while constructing a vertical ecosystem to provide greening for people living in it, it can also become a seed bank for retaining plant diversity in Kiribati and other South Pacific regions. Meanwhile, a large number of artificial components located between underwater structures can be a place for coral reef protection and regeneration.

Tesseract by Bryant Lau Liang Cheng proposes an architecture system that allows residents to participate in not just the design of their own units; but the programs and facilities within the building itself. This process is inserted between the time of purchase for the unit and the total time required to complete construction – a period that is often ignored and neglected. Through this process, residents are allowed to choose their amenities and their communities, enhancing their sense of belonging in the process. Housing units will no longer be stacked in repetition with no relation whatsoever to the residents living in it – a sentimental bond between housing and men results. The architecture system proposed can only be completed and realized by community participatory design; enabling possibilities that go beyond what computational design allows, highlighting the value of human creativity. High rise buildings now become a medium for the individual to express themselves; giving the power back to the residents, instead of being dictated by capitalistic agendas alone. By breaking the conventional centralized sky garden down into smaller components and spreading it throughout the entire vertical height of the building, the ‘invisible’ space caters to expansion in accordance with the lifestyle changes of the residents through time. These conditions allow modular units to expand or subdivide for either rent or sale, providing residents with incentives as time goes by. With this set-up, residents no longer have to move out for better accommodation; a longer duration of stay in their original homes and communities is encouraged, leading to a better sense of ownership and belonging.

NASA developed a concept presenting the creation of an artificial magnetosphere located at the specific site, called Lagrange L1, which is between Mars and the sun. At this specific site, it is necessary to create an object that generates a magnetic field with an intensity between 1-2 teslas that is capable of protecting Mars from cosmic rays. In comes MAGNETIC by Adam Fernandez! This colossal “space-scraper” project will allow us to create an atmosphere for Mars that would make the planet inhabitable. MAGNETIC is a spaceship in the form of an airtight cylinder that is more than one kilometer in length and 650 meters in diameter placed in orbit between the two stars. This spaceship will be self-sufficient and generated by renewable energy by means of panels that can capture solar energy. Part of the solar panels that cover the hull of the spaceship will be responsible for producing enough energy to generate the magnetic field in order to terraform Mars. Another part of the panels will be used to maintain the energy required by the inhabitants of the spaceship and to satisfy their domestic and leisure needs. The MAGNETIC spaceship will welcome a diverse population of about ten thousand people for the future colonization of Mars that will be principally charged with the maintenance of the space center. The heat and light will be transmitted through six gigantic columns in the heart of the island such as the filaments of a bulb. Once on-board the spaceship, the living spaces will be organized between the surface and subsurface.

Focusing on the flood as a global issue, the Mudtrapper by Surush Ameli, Sharareh Faryadi, Laya Rafianezhad, Soroush Attarzade has tried to exploit it naturally. Generally, the destructive and antithesis issue in the flood is the existence of garbage, mud, and the aquatic, which enter the residential areas by the pressure of the water, then after facing the obstacles, start to settle and become a threat to the environment. Removing these destructive ingredients from the flood, this project reduces its destructive power and allows nature to make its way. By placing the tower in the path of the flood, the animals are first rescued, then the garbage in the flood is removed, and finally, the mud enters the tower area with the flood and the exploitation operation begins. Balls made of several layers of sieve separate the mud from the water and enter the processing and store loop. In this loop, the operation of processing the mud, which is now our production material, is formed. Finally, as the balls exit the tower, the storage, and transfer operations take place. The flood, passing through the confines of the tower, is converted to a calm, refined stream which has used its destructive power to produce material and help its process, and then continues on its way.

Algae as energy resources are in their beginnings and are seen as high potential. Extensive research work has dealt with algae as an energy source in recent decades. As a biofuel, they are up to 6 times more efficient than e.g. comparable fuels from corn or rapeseed.The Tubular Bioreactor Algae Skyscraper focuses on the production of microalgae and their distribution using existing pipelines. Designed by Johannes Schlusche, Paul Böhm, Raffael Grimm, the towers are positioned along the transalpine pipeline in a barren mountain landscape. Water is supplied from the surrounding mountain streams and springs, and can also be obtained from the Mediterranean using saltwater. New, empty pipes will be drawn into the existing pipeline. On the one hand, these serve to distribute the sea or mountain water, on the other hand, the microalgae produced can be transported both south to the seacoast and north. The energy for transport is to be obtained from environmentally-friendly hydropower.

The problem of deforestation is publicly known and can be defined as the loss of trees induced by both humans and other causes. Big problems need big solutions, and the Reforestation skyscraper by Thomas Gössler could help to reverse the damage. It recreates forests out of cow grazing areas, soy fields, and destroyed landscapes by centralizing all necessary processes into one structure. At the top, seeds are inserted into an aquaponic system which – once large enough – slowly slide down a winding ramp whilst continuing to grow. After a few weeks, the seedling has grown and gradually slid towards the bottom and can subsequently be planted into the surrounding fields by mechanical arms and drones. The tower also houses a laboratory, a seed stock, water storage, a fire station for forest fires, sleeping cabins for temporary workers, a control center, several farming spaces, technology, and exhibition spaces. Large semi-transparent solar sails make it energy self-sufficient and are slowly moved with an electrical chain drive and mechanical arms. The tower is 70 meters high and its design is biophilic and inspired by nature itself.

Architectural designs that focus on humans and nature alike: Part 3

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How often did we hear the capitalist’s of the world say “We can’t just stop all our factories and businesses to stop global warming.” Meet the year 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic that has us all shut down, literally. While we stay at home and flatten the curve, we need to focus on what can we do after this ends. One solution is to promote the trend of green living! Vertical Gardens, urban farms, sustainable housing are the terms the millennials are understanding and living upto. Architectural designs play a major role in promoting them by having the green built into your setup, giving a cool relief to the increasing urban jungle. This curated collection is sure to inspire you to add a small green space in your home, to begin with. After all, slow and steady wins the race against global warming!

Danish kolonihaver, or “colony gardens” are communal groupings of leisure lots—each complete with a little cabin—that are peppered around the urban and periurban corners of the country. These structures captured by Henry Do show how the colony is not just there to save space or look futuristic, they actually serve a purpose for the citizens of the Dutch capital. They’re similar to allotment gardens, multi-year land rentals in a dedicated area, leased for the express purpose of gardening. When applied for, local residents can rent out the lots if they are looking to grow their own gardens. Due to the way each plot of land is set up, it gives a long vertical area for people to garden, as opposed to regular subdivisions which just provide a very small lengthwise area. Sounds like the perfect summer vacation!

Shilda winery in Kakheti, Georgia by X-Architecture is one of those places where you can literally lose yourself in the surrounding hills! Made to resemble the sloping vineyards, this design provides ample natural lighting to your living space while making the most of your surroundings.

Meet the Villa Vals, designed by Bjarne Mastenbroek and Christian Müller, respectively of the architectural offices SeARCH and CMA. Their design plan was to completely integrate the villa into the landscape to avoid disturbing the unspoiled nature. That is why access to the villa is only possible via the nearby wooden Graubünder shed, through an underground tunnel that runs straight through the mountainside. The façade of the house is slightly slanted, adding to the view of the mountain scenery across the valley opposite the house.

The Faroe Islands, a green country between Norway and Iceland consists of 18 islands spread across the ocean. This place is a remote, peaceful and quiet place with its pristine nature. Pyramid-shaped mountains stripped of long fjords, old churches with roofs covered with grass, lakes, stunning waterfalls and colorful houses in small villages overlooking the ocean. This place has maintained the perfect balance between civilization and nature.

Meet the Dune House by Studio Vural, a seaside holiday dwelling that is carved into sand dunes and operates without relying on public utilities. Using a vast solar field and miniature wind turbines, this house produces more energy than it consumes!

The AMKC House by Dannel Reskala of Sonny Sutanto Architect is proof that green architecture can be modern architecture as well!  The wire mesh creates an enclosure for the plants to grow, provide natural lighting while co-existing with the urban environment.

The hexagonal pyramids on the roof of this museum are now covered in a layer of grass, helping the building settle into its marshland environment in the Netherlands. Rotterdam firm Studio Marco Vermeulen carried out the renovation of the Biesbosch Museum – a building with multiple pitched roofs. The holistic nature of the design minimizes energy consumption, with glazing fitted with heat-resistant glass that eliminates the need for blinds. Meanwhile, the earthworks on the north-western side and the green roof serve as additional insulation and a heat buffer.

Designed by Singapore studio Chang Architects, this home was created to accommodate a multi-generation family with space for future additions if the children marry. The concept behind the project looks to enhance livings spaces within a tropical climate through the implementation of well-designed communal spaces, connecting family members. The design creates a tropical haven, bringing greenery and light into every space. An abundance of greenery is also implemented at every opportunity, creating a house that directly connects to nature and brings a certain vibrancy to the indoor and outdoor spaces. With the central pool space framed by cascading planters and green stepped decks, the overall planning is to have passive cooling to create a healthier living environment.

MVRDV’s design for Valley emphasizes the contrast between the corporate history and the more residential future of the Zuidas. Its offices boast high floor-to-ceiling windows, large, brightly lit floorplates and full-service amenities. The residential levels have large openable windows and sliding doors for outdoor spaces integrated within the stone facades. Outdoor ceilings and terraces are clad in natural stone as well, as are the fixed, automatically hydrated planters of varying heights that facilitate Valley’s distinct green appearance. Full glass railings protect residents against wind and sound without impeding on their panoramic views.

Houses in rural Vietnam are planned around common spaces like gardens, ponds, lakes where people connect together. In urban areas, there is a lack of community spaces affecting the users and their connectivity with each other. Ho Khue Architects designed the main concept of the structure from terraced fields. The units are stacked on each other with stepped terraces which provides plenty of light to the apartment units. On the inner sides, atriums are provided so as to get natural light and air ventilation.

Reality is stranger than fiction they say. Not sure about being stranger but it surely is more environment friendly in this case! Hobbiton in New Zealand lets you go visit and even stay in the shire.

For more such exciting and sustainable designs, check out Part 1 and Part 2 of this series!

3D architectural renders versus real designs that will inspire you

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3D rendered designs are everywhere – right from movies to real-life settings, we have reached a time where it is almost impossible to distinguish between render and the real image of a place. Take for example the image here – on asking, most people prefer the image on the right, which may surprise you to know is a 3D render and not an actual image of the Living Wall, present in a home in Belgravia created by Biotecture.

What sorcery is this you ask? Meet Adrian Lobo, popular on Instagram by his company handle @a3render, a 3D visualization powerhouse working from Mexico whose skills have given a new life to this private garden. Using a mix of SketchUp, V-Ray, Revit, 3ds Max and more, the team specializes in creating realistic 3D visualizations of any given space. Scroll through to see more work by this dynamic team that will leave you in awe!

Below is the real architectural design – The Living Wall created for a private garden in Belgravia by Biotecture.

And this is the 3D render visualization by A3 Render.

The render captures the beautiful pebbles laid at the base with a yellow light that gives a warm, inviting contrast with white light streaming in from those sliding windows. An added spotlight from the top illuminates the entire structure.

Impressed? So are we. Here is some more great work by the A3 Render’s team for you to ogle and get inspired by!

Project Tulum House interior focuses on muted interiors with metallic accents to give the room a highlight.

Project Houston Maeva utilizes a splash of neon pink to create a focal point in the room.

The designer visualizes a chair and its fabric with great attention to detail that wows us!

Tons of natural lighting lights up the render of this Project named Restaurant Hacienda Centro.

Our friendly neighborhood Starbucks could surely use this interesting, inviting piece to entice us along with that heady aroma of fresh coffee!

The team at A3 Render sure loves adding a splash of retro with neon lighting and we love it too as seen in their Project Chroma.

The Project Colorado Springs showcases a raw concrete structure nestled between the surrounding hills. I’m sure this house will have some spectacular views of the mountain and the valley.

Marble, in both dark and light shades dominate the Bocce Restaurant.

The Puebla’s Cabin is a perfect mix of modern and rustic getaway for those who want a break from the cityscapes.