The Architecture of the City

Richard Meier & Partners is proud to announce their FIRST project in South America. The new Leblon Offices will be a sustainable and state-of-the-art building in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.The new office building located in the Leblon neighborhood, will be the iconic new international headquarters for VINCI Partners in Brazil. The design scheme consists primarily of open office spaces and a series of terraces which open up and create a direct connection with the urban artery of Av. Bartolomeu Mitre.

 

The design of the office building with its refined formal vocabulary reflects the distinct orientation of the site while addressing issues of sustainability, maximum efficiency and flexibility. The building will be recessed from the urban frontage and masked with a set of louvers designed for both maximum sun shading and privacy retention to the west. On the east, the building has been pulled away from its neighbors to create an internal courtyard and provide natural day lighting on two exposures for all offices. This void creates a generous vertical garden that ties back into a rough and refined exposed architectural concrete service core. The entire project straddles between the refined precision of a white aluminum and glass, free-plan office and the roughness of concrete and vegetation within the courtyard and is reconciled by an illuminated glass bridge.

Via Lauren Moss

The guest residence, located on a barrier island, is set within a mature oak hammock along Sarasota Bay. The structure is inspired by the character of the live oaks, which have been shaped by the prevailing coastal winds from the west.

The Owner requested a design that was a “house in the trees”. A small program, including one bedroom, bath, living area with kitchenette, and a loft is organized to provide privacy between a neighboring property to the north, while offering broad views of the oak hammock to the south and west, and the intercoastal waterway to the east.

Curved glulam pine beams, which are anchored to the elevated concrete slab at their base, curve up and over the entire space, reflect the arching quality of the live oak limbs. Ship lap cypress siding is used to clad the exterior walls and the interior walls between the glulam beams.

The design is intended to evoke an organic architecture that is influenced by, and reflective of its site...

Via Lauren Moss

In Ma'anqiao, the 2008 earthquake destroyed 263 out of 272 houses.

Today, with the help of a group of university researchers, this remote Sichuan village has become a workshop of design experimentation, in which the region's inhabitants and artisans are re-learning the ancient art of rammed-earth constructions.

To do so, it was essential to give villagers a demonstration of how to rebuild with all the readily available resources. As a prototype, a new rammed-earth courtyard dwelling was constructed for an elderly couple in one month by the project team together with villagers mobilised from each family. Providing families with a participative training course on the basic techniques developed in previous studies, this hands-on approach allowed them to be convinced by the new construction and further understand how to rebuild their houses by themselves...

Via Lauren Moss

One of the largest prefabricated straw bale buildings in Europe will be officially opened at The University of Nottingham tomorrow Wednesday 8 February 2012.

 

Designed by Make Architects the new Gateway Building has been constructed with straw bale panels harvested on the University’s very own farmland – just 200 yards from the site. Make Architects have produced the video Story of Straw about the technology behind the £5.2m development.

 

“Our aim is to create an inspiring and harmonious place to study and work reflecting the University’s impressive ‘green’ credentials. This innovative new building is part of a multi-million pound drive to expand and upgrade the University’s teaching and learning facilities.

 

This building, along with many other new facilities on our campuses both in the UK and Asia and will enhance the institution’s position as one of the most popular destinations among applicants to UK universities.”

Via Lauren Moss