Surrounded by wheat fields on a high-altitude plateau stand a small glass house and a solid, traditional barn. The owners, inspired by Philip Johnson’s Glass House, wanted a refuge that opens up to the prairie and mountains. The structures are conveniently close to each other and enjoy a sense of isolation at the end of a long country road. The roof of the wood-frame barn, which houses farm equipment below and guest rooms above, was inspired by the local vernacular and is echoed in the shed roof of the glass house.
Delta Shelter – a 1,000 square-foot cabin – is essentially a steel-clad box on stilts that can be completely shuttered when the owner is away. The 200 square-foot footprint of the house rises above a 40-acre, 100-year flood plain adjacent to the Methow River. The verticality, coloring and raw nature of the materials used for construction directly respond to the wildness of the setting. The owner sought a compact, easy to maintain, virtually indestructible building to house himself and his friends for fun and adventure in the mountains. With an exterior of steel, the house is virtually indestructible.
Imagined as the ultimate urban retreat, Vale Garden Residence is The William Vale’s most magnificent duplex accommodation with 1,320 sq. ft. of living space across two floors. Bright and airy with extraordinary sweeping views of Brooklyn and New York City, the two-bedroom penthouse designed by Studio Munge features a lofty residential living and dining space connected to a 1,632 sq. ft. fully furnished private terrace with open air Jacuzzi. From the lavish furnishing to the fifteen feet tall feature wall of carved marble, each piece was carefully selected or custom designed to reach the pinnacle of urban luxury and make the guest feel at home, as if they owned a piece of New York. Modern in its execution and sculptural in its form, Vale Garden Residence with its indoor and outdoor dining and entertaining spaces, breathtaking balcony views, and expansive layout, is the ultimate Brooklyn retreat, and the perfect setting for private gatherings and intimate group celebrations.
Located in the heart of fashionable Williamsburg, Leuca is the latest addition to the NoHo Hospitality Group’s collection of New York hot spots. Built within The William Vale hotel, the 5820 sq. ft. venue celebrates Southern Italian cuisine in a menu of wood-fired pizza, earthy pastas and grilled specialties crafted by chef Andrew Carmellini. Meant as an inviting, sophisticated yet approachable setting for travelers and locals alike to socialize in, the soulful 187 seat restaurant was designed following the poetic narrative of a young couple and their little girl relocating from Europe to Brooklyn. The venue is a romantic projection of their childhood spent in Italy and a reminiscence of their Nona’s country house.
The $52.8 million PACCAR Environmental Technology Building at Washington State University in Pullman, Washington brings to life the vision of WSU’s Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture and the pursuit of interdisciplinary research related to sustainability concerns. The 96,000-square-foot project is a collaboration between designers LMN Architects and general contractor Skanska. The four-story building serves five of WSU’s long-standing research and development centers, all dedicated to tackling multi-faceted environmental issues through interdisciplinary collaboration. “What’s exciting about this project is how it sums up so much of what contemporary education is about—collaboration, exploration…a true interdisciplinary approach—the whole project is essentially one giant laboratory,” notes Mark Reddington, FAIA, Partner at LMN.
Chicago-based developer Riverside Investment & Development celebrated the debut of the 150 North Riverside office tower, which opened for business in February, with an official ribbon-cutting ceremony today. Comprising 1.25 million rentable square feet, the building is located in Chicago’s West Loop on one of the most prominent sites in the city, bounded by Randolph and Lake streets at the confluence of the north, south and main branches of the Chicago River. Designed by architecture firm Goettsch Partners (GP), the tower features a very narrow structure at its base in order to fit between seven active Amtrak rail lines to the west and the river to the east. The building’s compact footprint opens up to highly efficient, column-free office floors above and allows for the majority of the two-acre site (more than 75%) to be developed as a landscaped public park, riverside amphitheater and riverwalk.
Article source: David Hertz FAIA Studio of Environmental Architecture
The Butterfly House is a project in Venice Beach California that resides on a 40′ x 90′ end lot. The name of the house is derived from the butterfly roof which is formed to collect rainwater for irrigation and creates a dramatic elevation especially when the wooded ceiling is illuminated. The main concept of the house, was based upon maximization of the long south facing elevation to create a dark solar absorbent surface and to provide exposed solar thermal heating with evacuated tubes used as an architectural accent. The glass tubes provide hot water for both domestic uses and hydronic radiant as well heat for the the narrow lap pool along the edge of the property. On the outer edge of the property is a 90 foot long 8 foot tall double-sided living vegetative wall with durable drought tolerant succulents on the southern face at the street, as an offering to the community, while the inside surface facing the house is a living wall of edible landscape so that the occupant needs only to go a few steps to pick his wall to make a salad, pick herbs or vegetables. The entrance to the house is from the side yard, between a courtyard that separates the garage from the main house and connects the buildings at the second floor through a glass bridge. A warm palette of sustainable materials are used throughout the house to create an environment that is at once private yet opens from the interior to the exterior. The house takes advantage of natural ventilation and prevailing breezes through a high solar chimney and stair tower that leads to the roof deck as well as thermostatically controlled operable windows that cool the interior. The house also has solar photovoltaic panels which along with advanced lighting controls the state-of-the-art information systems throughout the house creates a zero net energy building.
The previous owner of this 1960s modern home covered over the walls of glass with plywood and installed a massive awning at the rear of the house, blocking out most light and connection with the outdoors. The original interior had a maze-like layout starting with a small entry area and moving into too many hallways. In short, the house felt dark and closed-in. Nevertheless the new owners saw the potential in the home, purchased it, and hired Klopf Architecture to help them realize the potential. Today it is an open, light and bright, indoor-outdoor, clean and simple, modernist home for two professionals and their young son.
In his essay, “On Trial 1: The situation. What architecture of technology?,” published in1962, Reyner Banham called the suspended ceiling a “Utopian or a Dymaxion dream.” He maintained that suspended ceilings had achieved a degree of industrialization, flexibility, and interchangeability of parts—accommodating a range of services such as heating and cooling, ventilation, lighting, sound, fire-extinguishing, acoustic control, etc.—that far surpass the limited functions of exterior paneling or curtain-wall systems. “Taken grosso modo, one-offs, off-the-pegs, standardized and specialized,” he wrote, “all together, suspended ceilings represent probably the greatest achievement to date in accommodating technology to architecture.” Yet, despite its remarkable all-pervading presence, in Banham’s view, the suspended ceiling had been unremarked in the mythologies of modern architecture. “No one is for or against suspended ceilings,” he argued, “and yet they constitute one of the most sophisticated elements in the technology of architecture.”
A Chicago developer tasked us to create a new office atmosphere within an existing single story masonry shell. Our strategy was to place emphasis on the intrinsic character of materials used to build this simple box. First, we needed to uncloak its forgotten beauty, hidden behind the layers of old gypsum skin. Once the perimeter was brought back to life, we kept clear of it, and began to introduce the components needed for an everyday “office use”.
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