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Modern Office Building in Ironbank, Auckland, New Zealand by RTA Studio

Located on the edge of Auckland’s business district, New Zealand practice RTA Studio has just completed an office building project. The building stood out between the dominating Victorian and Edwardian buildings on the street front.

Urban Lace Apartment Design by OFIS Arhitekti

Situated in the west of Slovenia, OFIS Arhitekti designed an outstanding apartment block in the center of Nova Gorica which lies 92 meters above sea level. Nova Gorica has a very specific climate which is the hottest in summer and very strong winds in winter.

It’s formal concept restore three-dimensional lace which defined the building’s volume. The lace in transformed into elements: projecting roofs, apartment dividing walls, pergolas, also terraces and balconies. The elements are protecting external spaces and interior ofapartments and provide additional privacy to inhabitants.

There are sustainability issues which can be found in this building:

1. The combination of façade elements function as constant temperature buffer zone to the main living and sleeping areas and protect against sudden weather changes and strong winds. Additional aluminum shading panels are placed on the outer sides of the winter loggias and balconies.
2. The service and communication spaces are reduced to minimum thus the daylight is provided on the shafts. The monthly basic energetic and service costs are very low; so also economic for the habitants.

Modern Kew House Design by Jackson Clements Burrows Architects

Australian-based firm Jackson Clements Burrows Architects have designed the modern Kew House which located in Melbourne, Australia, at the end of a cul-de-sac in the coveted Yarra Boulevard neighborhood. The architect applied the three shells concept on the modern house that make up the horizontal stacking-block form.

Each of the shell contains certain areas: the entry shell with study and garage, the middle shell with bedrooms, bathrooms, and laundry, and the end shell with kitchen, dining, and living areas.

The three forms are suspended in the tree canopy with a supporting structure of circular two-tone columns. Beneath this platform level is a glazed area with an additional bedroom, bathroom, storage, and living areas, a floor of synthetic grass and a children’s play area. The house uses passive thermal heating and cooling techniques, with a northern orientation, overhangs and minimal openings to the west, as well as operable windows in all rooms and a main hallway acting as a breezeway corridor.

Sustainable Net Zero Carbon House Design by Potton

This house is the first net-zero carbon house which built in United Kingdom by Pottonarchitect, which reaches the highest level of sustainability. Potton’s eco-friendly house was meant to ‘encourage a way of living that is inherently ‘light’ on the world’s resources whilst combining the practicalities of today’s average homeowner”.

Sitting on screw piled foundations, the lighthouse features a sloping 40 degrees roof which captures wind for its own cooling and ventilation. Triple glazed large windows also embedded to reduce heat loss and at the same time packing the photovoltaic panels and built-in systems that recycles rainwater.

Caroline Springs Civic Centre Architecture Design by Suters Prior Cheney

Architecture firm Suters Prior Cheney has been commissioned by the Shire of Melton to design the Caroline Springs Library as part of an integrated development for the Caroline Springs Town Centre. The building design was inspired by the local geological features of the area, from which the Organ Pipes National Park derives its name.

The distinctive columnar basalt formations only occur in a few locations in Victoria and are reflected in many elements of the building, such as:

• Tesselated/randomised pre-cast walls throughout the building
• Large supersized hexagons which formed the main entry elements to both buildings and were created using stepped concrete columns with infill pieces
• Cranked glass external façade which extends the visual language of the pre-cast The technical production of these elements was particularly challenging and could only have been possible with teamwork between consultants, suppliers and architects.

The main internal corridor of the building is punctuated by a alpolic soffit that extends from outside to inside. Feature walls within the main circulation spaces are punctuated with the same hexagonal profile.

The floor furnishings utilize interface carpets with a series of tretford highlights. These highlights also follow another moment (referred to as the Rosette Stone) in the area’s geological history.

At the western end of the internal street a cohort learning space, coined ‘the Bat Cave’ by school groups, provides a more private environment for group study and IT presentation preparations. Via. Photography by Emma Cross.

Modern Casa Nova Lima Residence by Danilo Matoso Architect

Located in the valleys of Minas Gerias, Brazil, architect Danilo Matoso has successfully built the modern house of Casa Nova Lima. The home stands on an uneven terrain which was a particular challenge for the architect. To cope with that, Danilo came up with an “odd” design that helped the house stand by using a proper weight distribution system.

To create both ambient and natural lighting, Danilo employed a broad use of glass on the facade. However, he still kept the sense of privacy although the house has more transparency. With spacious interiors clad in wood and lovely green wilderness all around, Casa Nova Lima has completely merged with its surroundings.

Modern Home Design of Laidley House by Zack|de Vito Architecture

Jim Zack and Lise de Vito are husband and wife who founded the Zack|de Vito Architectureand recently designed and built the 147 Laidley modern house. The house was designed and built with sustainability in mind using appropriatematerials, systems and construction techniques.

The house is a new, ground up single family residence located on a typical 25′x100′ San Francisco infill lot. The house is just over 3,000 square foot, with three bedrooms, three bathrooms and an open plan living floor with dramatic views of the City, the Bay and the Bay Bridge.

The eco friendly approach to built the house was using a panelized framing systems, with 90% of the framing produced off site and assembled in 3 1/2 weeks. The design of the house is modern and open, expressive of materials, detail and craft, yet it was easily assimilated into its urban context of older houses. The attention to detail is best exemplified by the interior stair custom fabricated from water jet cut steel stringers, acrylic treads and steel and glass guardrails.

Beachcroft Orth Residence Modern Small House Design by Andrew Maynard Architects

Andrew Maynard Architects has completed the residential alteration and extension project of an existing double fronted weatherboard house in Melbourne, Australia. The client presented a brief comprised of 2 bathrooms, a bedroom, living area, kitchen and increased connection with outside areas.

The house itself was a typical of inner suburban Melbourne. The site is double fronted with a deeper than usual block running east west. Upon the brief, the architect responded with the idea of developing the possibility of malleable and mobile space, especially in residential design. They thought that the building should respond to the emerging social conditions created by mobile technology such as mobile phones, laptops, PDAs, cars, planes etc.

The original house has been restored to its simple four room square plan, and the new structure sits lightly beside it. The recycled grey iron bark portal frames are of a larger, non-domestic scale. They were envisaged as an old relic of a pre-industrial age, an old, wise element to a new and vibrant addition.

The use of screening and the glazed garage doors create a soft edge that allows the internal spaces to spill into the outdoor spaces. Within this structure are the small, colorful boxes of the bedroom and kitchen. These objects separate functions and act as a bridge between the original house and the extension.

Insulation, a sheltering context and well-designed sunshading makes the design an efficient home without the use of elaborate tactics or expensive equipment. The sunshading spacing was designed to minimize solar gain during summer and maximize solar gain during winter. As the seasons shift forest-like dappled sunlight plays throughout the internal spaces. A soon to be installed rainwater tank will be positioned along the southern façade where the roof drainage has been articulated to.

The internal plan is a simple linear organization, however the overall design is not a linear one. The layering between internal and external spaces creates an organic series of connections visually and actual between original, new and external spaces. The kitchen ‘box’ acts as the bridge between the old and new, acting as a negotiator between the two languages.

The primary structure is a series of recycled grey iron bark portal frames with 12mm steel connectors at each junction. Within the portal structure is a simple stud frame. The glazedgarage doors have a steel surround that fixes directly to the stud work. Western Red Cedar battens shade the structure. Existing services have been extended. The client is planning to add solar panels to the new roof area. The roof water has been articulated to points along the southern boundary to allow rainwater tanks to plug straight into the current plumbing.

Below are site plans and layouts of the small modern house design. Click on each image for larger views.

Contemporary House Design in Antwerp by Britt Crepain & Stefan Spaens

A couple of architects from CSD Architecten have completed a contemporary home designdedicated for themself. The house is located on a very small plot of land (4x15m) in a narrow street in the Center of Antwerp, back facade facing south.

The three story house consists of main living areas bureau/library/kitchen/dining and the highest split-level is the sitting room with open fire and views of the city and the sky. From there, resident can access the split leveled roof-terrace with views over the entire city.

The split-levels bring the light from the south through the house; a lot more than with a normal racking of floors that most houses have. Sunlight comes through everywhere, especially in wintertime when the sun is low. In summer top windows can be opened and give a natural ventilation through the void and the opening to the roof-terrace.

Most of the interior furniture designed by Britt Crepain and built completely integrated functional and esthetically in the architecture.

Vintage Exterior Facade with Modern Interior – O House by Philippe Stuebi & Eberhard Tröger

Vierwaldstättersee in Switzerland is where this magnificent house design built by architectPhilippe Stuebi andEberhard Tröger. With a beautiful lake view, the sculptural villa boasts a vintage style facade made of white concrete elements with circular openings.

The lake side with superb mountain views of the rigi and the bürgenstock shows off a protruding, glistering loggia made of round glass bricks. Very decorative, such elements are a strong contrast to the rough renderings of the side facades.

The basement nestles along the slope and opens into a large fitness area with a 25 meter pool, half inside, half outside, which is inserted in a white terrazzo plate. This terrazzo plate extends gracefully from the pool bar located inside along the boathouse made of white tinted, rough jetted concrete into lake lucerne. Via Cubeme

Cesena Building Modern Architecture Design by Tisselli Studio Architetti

Located in Cesena, Italy, architects from Tisselli Studio have designed a modern residential building, aimed to revitalize the surroundings which is a dismissed industrial area.

The architect must put together the client’s request: good quality architecture with low budget plan, along with the commercial space requirements. Decision was taken by using traditional structure which allowed the architects to focus their design energy on the details and the finances on finishing material, which afforded the pursuit of innovative design.

The residential architecture consists of four stories which each have a specific designated use: the first level is reserved for parking, the second level contains more parking in addition to outside living space, and the remaining levels are dedicated to the 28 residential units. Mobility of the pedestrian and vehicular access to all levels is provided by a system of ramps and pedestrian walkways, which also unifies the whole building structure.

Two bands enclose the structure in a unique graphic gesture plays the depth, which also provides order to an otherwise fragmentary façade and serving as the identifying symbol of the building.

Project Details:

• Principals in Charge: Filippo Tisselli, Cinzia Mondello
• Collaborators: Filippo Tombaccini, Flavia Benigni, Elena Fantoni
• Project Year: 2007-2009
• Photography is courtesy of Tisselli Studio

San Fransisco Contemporary Home Renovation Project – Xiao-Yen’s House by Craig Steely Architecture

Located in San Fransisco, California, architecture firm Craig Steely have completed a modern home renovation project of Xiao- Yen’s house. The three story house extensive renovation began by tearing away the layers of substandard remodeling that had accrued over the past 100 years.

The design called for a contemporary program that includes a more open plan for work and living, a sod roof, and a glass penthouse supported by a steel exoskeleton. The steel exoskeleton is part of a seismic upgrade that doesn’t tear the existing building apart. It also supports decks on 2 floors and a pack a bi-facial solar panels.

Architect: Craig Steely ArchitectureStructural Engineer: Val RabichevContractor: StructuraProject Area: 1,500 sqf (Lower Apartment Area), 2,000 sqf (Upper Apartment Area)

Project Year: 2010

Modern Uniopt Pachleitner Group Headquarters Architecture Design by GS Architects

The Pachleitner Group is a company that specializes in the design and marketing of spectacles and jewelry. This time, their office building MP09, which is named after the owner of the firm, Michael Pachleitner, was intended as a landmark to the city-entrance of Graz, Austria.

The building’s hard shaped sculpture covered with a black glass facade erected over a concrete base develops from a compact tail to a more and more resolving head cantilevering towards the city. The different directions of the building structure are retrieved in the inside structure of the spaces.

From almost every position there are vistas through the whole building to the outdoor spaces. A special quality of the building evolves out of the individually designed technical solutions concerning the facade, partition walls, doors, staircases and many other components. Accurate details and few colors in various surfaces and materials define the interior. Even the whole furniture was custom-made by the architects and is consequently congruent to the architecture.

Architects: GS ArchitectsProject manager: DI Michael Gattermeyer, DI Danijela GojicClient: Dr. Michael Pachleitner PrivatstiftungCost: 1.583 €/m2 BGFSite area: 10,940 sqm

Project year: 2006 – 2008

Student Housing Modern Architecture in Epinay, France by ECDM

French architecture firm Emmanuel Combarel Dominique Marrec has completed an architectural project of student housing for Espacil Habitat in Epinay, France. The residence should house 170 residents, and 19 housing for researchers or invited professors and housing for women in distresses.

As the objective is to create some social coeducation, the building comprised of private study rooms, laundry, space out relaxation internal and outer, gardens were fitted out with fruit trees. Joining the geometry everything in length of the plots of land of the district, built household of wide spaces of full végétalisée ground. In this urban logic, overlaps a geographical logic with a rational orientation of the east-west buildings and the facades protected from the noisepollutions of the voices shod and of the secondary road by effect of mask.

The volumetry of each of 4 buildings is specific to become integrated into its immediate environment, manage transitions with existing neighboring. The global density of the plot of land will be about 1.25, density which seems to us rather strong to be carrier of politeness and rather weak to be able to assure a sewing with the adjoining suburbanzone.

Vancouver Convention Centre Architectural Project by LMN Architects

This April, the newly built and expanded Vancouver Convention Centre will be opened for public. The expansion and re-building project was completed by Seattle-based LMN Architects. As the project finalization, the entire site is now occupying a total area of 473,532 square feet, consists of meeting, exhibition, ballroom, and plenary theatre space.

Vancouver Convention Centre could be remark as one of the most beautiful settings in the world, since it situated on a harbourfront location with a breathtaking views. The whole site is divided into a separate East and West building. Both of them are designed to as a series of modules to offer the highest degree of flexibility. The new combination allows the building management to hold simultaneous events, each with their own separate access and function space.

The architect applied the green technology ot building to support the eco friendlycharacteristic to this building. Some of them can be found on the “the living roof” seawaterheating and cooling, on-site water treatment and even fish habitat built into the foundation.

On the upcoming XXI Olympic & Paralympic Winter Games 2010, Vancouver Convention Centre will serve as the broadcast and media center which houses more than 7,000 media, broadcasting live to million of audiences accroxx the glove.

Audenasa Building in Noain, Spain by Vaillo + Irigaray

From Vaillo + Irigaray Architecture comes a new lookout point that offers an image derived morphological genesis of his own: a tablet suspended, almost floating on the gentle slope green and offers a gesture of successive concave ribs against the sun.

Two slabs of concrete lattice steel tape the or-ten blocks south and north reused tire. The picture of the complex aims to establish close ties to the movement and infrastructure relating to transport, and perhaps away from the usual urban readings in similar programs.

Minimalist Design of Raumati Beach House by Herriot + Melhuish

For some people, beach is a perfect place to live. Herriot + Melhuish brought the demand out for reality which resulted in this sophisticating modern Raumati beach house. The deliver every beach necessities in there: open family room, outdoor shower, fireplace, and direct beach access. Yet careful and robust construction ensures that this is no summer-only house.

The Raumati beach house demonstrates a mastery of materials and design philosophy. The rear of the New Zealandhome, which was designed by architects at Herriot + Melhuish, has panoramic sliding glass doors that open wide towards the ocean, effectively extending the family room towards the horizon.

Sophisticating Swoosh Pavilion Architectural Design

Charles Walker and Martin Self tutored the 2008 AA Summer Pavilion which annually build by the second and third year students of Intermediate Unit 2 Architectural Association school. It called as the “Swoosh Pavilion”.

Located outside the AA in Bedford Square, the finishing time of the Swoosh Pavilion coincided with the London Festival of Architecture 2008. Swoosh joins the [c]space Pavilion which also located in Bedford Square.

For the students who conceive, design and construct the pavilion it’s a henomenological exercise, going from idea to design and finally realization.

Modern House Design in Cape Schanck, Australia by JCBA

Australian architects from Jackson Clements Burrows have designed a beautiful modern house in Cape Schanck, Victoria, Australia. The modern house which is located on a high inland dune amongst the dense ti-tree shrubfeatures a prominent cantilever profile heading west, along with the luxurious swimming pool on the upper level.

The two stories house is intended for a retired couple and their extended family who visit the regularly. The primary upper level form —the hollowed out log— contains the kitchen, dining, living, garage and laundry. A secondary upper level form —the branch extending from the log— contains the study, master bedroom and ensuite. These forms are both finished in spotted gum hardwood cladding which is stained black.

Project Details:

• Project Team: Tim Jackson, Jon Clements, Graham Burrows, Kim Stapleton, George Fortey, Brett Nixon
• Design duration: 12 months
• Construction duration: 18 months
• Landscape: Site Office Landscape Architects
• Mechanical: Griepink & Ward Pty Ltd
• Structural: Adams Consulting Engineers Pty Ltd
• Contractor: BD Projects
• Constructed Area: 400 sqm

Parabola House Minimalist Design by Atelier Tekuto Architects

Yasuhiro Yamashita of Atelier Tekuto has recently completed a minimalist house design for a family in Tokyo. The site is located in a quiet residential area surrounded by nature. 6m in width and 27m in length, it is a long and narrow site, which has been constructed 3m above road-level so that on clear days, it enjoys views of Mount Fuji.

Minimal design and a parabolic ceiling on the top floor are the building’s distinctive features. Splashes of colour provide a contrast to the undulating white surroundings, giving rhythm to the space. The flowing “three dimensional” ceiling, which dips and rises to varying levels of height, arouses contrasting feelings of “tension” and “release” and gives the room a sense of boundlessness.

Thus, even when observing the room from a fixed position, the fluctuating density invokes a sense of movement, which unconsciously guides the observer right through and beyond the room’s boundaries, as if following the flow of air, giving the impression of endless space.