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Habitat '67 by Moshe Safdie Architects
When I saw this project the first thing I thought was: How do they manage to build something so disconnected and without modulation? How people can live there? Somewhat strange, I present you guys the Habitat'67, by Moshe Safdie Architects. Located in Montreal, Canada, this building was created for the 1967 World Exposition that happened in Montreal. It was developed with three-dimensional prefabricated modules in order to house a total of 158 residences. The units are connected by high tension bars and welds, all combined to create a continuous suspension system. Visit Sadfie Arquitetcts to see more details about this project! Update: Take a look on these amazing other pictures on Flickr. (Thanks to Etienne Coutu). Three elevator cores direct vertical circulation throughout the complex, with elevators stopping at every fourth floor to serve pedestrian streets. Every part of the building, including the units, the pedestrian streets, and the elevator cores, participate as load-bearing members.
Incredible 8 House in Denmark, by BIG Architects
8 House is a multipurpose building housing and commercial area located in Copenhagen, Denmark. A project that despite having simple functions was bold in its conception and shows a totally different architectural concept for this type of housing. Project by the group of architects BIG - Bjarke Ingels Group aims to be a dwelling place for people of all ages and all types of families. At the bottom were localized shopping and commercial area, thus having easy access to the street. In subsequent layers was distributed the apartments, thereby allowing better ventilation and air quality for residents. An exciting project for its form and that is worth checking the whole process of designing at the website of BIG. The apartments are placed at the top while the commercial program unfolds at the base of the building. As a result, the different horizontal layers have achieved a quality of their own: the apartments benefit from the view, sunlight and fresh air, while the office leases merge with life on the street. Photos by Dragor Luft, Jens Lindhe, Ty Stange
The Classic Housing Complex, by Medusagroup
This lovely residential complex is located in Katowice, Poland. A project designed to break the pejorative name of this type of building in the country, an infamous legacy of the achievements of the 70'. The result is a very family and invitation complex. The project by Medusagroup architects is composed of three buildings: two parallel blocks of galleries with a large central park between them, a Boulevard style, and a third 6 storey apartment building. The entire complex is characterized by an architecture of straight lines and few colors, where the use of wooden in contrast with graphite walls, and the details of glass and metal, featuring a combination of modern and highly likely to be well successful. The photos show the simplicity and beauty of this complex! Photo by Mi?osz Jaksik Photo by Mi?osz Jaksik Photo by Mi?osz Jaksik Photo by Mi?osz Jaksik Photo by Mi?osz Jaksik Photo by Mi?osz Jaksik Photo by Mi?osz Jaksik Photo by Mi?osz Jaksik Photo by Mi?osz Jaksik Photo by Mi?osz Jaksik Photo by Mi?osz Jaksik Photo by Mi?osz Jaksik Photo by Mi?osz Jaksik Photo by Mi?osz Jaksik
Cité A Docks Student Housing
We have all seen a lot of projects using containers, but I can say that among all I know this is one of the most complete in terms of architecture, use of materials, location and primarily for the use, a student housing. The Cité is the Dock a project by Cattani Architects located in Le Havre, France. A four-story building that houses 100 apartments made of old shipping containers. All rooms with bathrooms, kitchen, free wifi and has been carefully designed to have a great heat and sound insulation. The way the containers were distributed creating empty spaces and common areas between the flats makes Cité A Docks a building a kind familiar, and the location near the water creates a very modern and industrial feeling. “How do I prevent students, prospective tenants, they feel put in the box? Compelling needs have arisen. Necessary to conceive of a lightweight, transparent, and certainly not solid. Hence the idea of independent living, to avoid the stacking effect.” – Cattani The building designed by the metal structure is spread over four floors, which are distributed on the 100 studios. The first level was raised from the ground. In this way, the units here guests can enjoy the same privacy afforded to units on the upper floors. All the apartments overlook a garden inside and are equipped on both ends of the glass walls that allow natural lighting of spaces.
Superior Apartments at Venice, California
This apartment building located on Venice Boulevard is a project by Kanner Architects. The Venice Superior Apartments have simple shapes, vibrant colors and a modern look. Venice was just the perfect place for it! The building is small with only three floors, and the architects were able to distribute it in 38 apartments. The composition of irregular windows cut off the monotony of a single apartment building and shows the vibe and style of Venice. The balconies complete the design of the facade and serve both to protect the residents of urban activity and to protect from the sun. Mostly one-bedrooms, the apartments are loft-like inside with linear kitchens, high ceilings and clerestory windows. Exterior materials such as corrugated metal, smooth plaster and dark Trespa underscore the clean lines of the architectural design. Tall green screens provide a vertical landscape element to the urban setting. To conserve water usage, grounds will be xeriscaped around hardscaping also designed by Kanner Architects.
Habitat 825, a Housing Unit in Hollywood
I had no doubt that any of you guys would love to live in this condo. Habitat 825 is a project from the Californian architecture firm Lorcan O'Herlihy (LOHA). The condo can accommodate 19 housing and is a really interesting project, from its concept to the final result. Vibrant colors and common materials, a combination nothing exuberant but when analyzing the whole work we can see how well they are applied, it is something near perfection. They gave a personalized treatment for each unit, having private and public areas that integrate with a central common area to all the residents. A project that deserves to be contemplated as a huge architectural inspiration. Photos: LOHA This project provided an opportunity to address the critical issues of density, site and the cultural and social impacts that arise from building adjacent to a historical landmark. Attempting to “kick down the bamboo wall”, Habitat 825 and its expansive use of common open space creates an urban space without borders or property lines. © LOHA © LOHA © LOHA © LOHA © LOHA © LOHA © LOHA Materials are a combination of non-combustible cement board and Local forest managed dark stained Redwood siding. The utilization of a rain screen system promotes a long life-cycle reducing the need for maintenance and repair. In addition, given Los Angeles’ warm climate, the movement of air between the building and the cladding cools the inner face of the exterior and reduces the demand for cooling energy. © LOHA © LOHA © LOHA © LOHA © LOHA © LOHA © LOHA © LOHA © LOHA
Lucien Rose Complex in France
This housing complex in Rennes, France, was a project idealized by Edmond Herve, Rennes' mayor from 1977 until 2008. Last year, 2009, the project was finally conceived by Atelier du Pont Architects as an example of modern and social architecture. The Lucien Rose complex was built keeping the historic and the identity of its neighborhood, the Thabor Botanical Gardens. The complex consists in 81 housing units splited into 6 buildings carefully projected, with great care with the materials, colors and scale. All that to perfectly insert the building into the city context. Everything matches and create a feeling of unity between the buildings and the urban space. Besides the worries with the aesthetic of these buildings, the group of architects also offered a library to the local community, a building with cool singularities witch abuses of natural lightening and the contrast among neutral and vibrant colors. Besides being a cultural space well inserted in an area with a great flow of people. And to complete the awesomeness of the project, they used sustainable elements. Solar energy, water re-usage, plants that demand less water, solar heating to piped water and further details that make this space a reason of proud to the community of Rennes. Photographs: Luc Boegly Thanks archdaily.com for the tip!
Collective Housing Units - By LAN Architecture
This project is a new sustainable social housing complex, built in Begles, France. It's a great architectural approach, a project with a diversity of architectural propositions and communal and private spaces. The brain behind this project is LAN Architecture, they tryied to invent a new urban lifestyle, witch I think it was amazing. I love the way they used the shapes and the holes on those huge walls. As they say "the first stage was to ‘sculpt’ the volumes in order to exploit their urban potential and intrinsic spatial qualities". The principle underlying our approach was that of stacking containers, and careful study of habitat modes, climatic conditions and the sun’s trajectory throughout the year suggested the way to organise this. The idea of variable compactness introduced the notion of a housing unit’s adaptability to seasons and times of day. All residents have the possibility of using their exterior space as a windbreak, a mini-greenhouse or, conversely, as a means of cooling or ventilating. More about it on designboom.com.
Housing 137 by H Architects
I love those minimalist constructions, and I don't mean that should be a white building to be minimalist. Look this project by H Architects for an example, it is an apartment block in Barcelona, Spain, with an amazing shape, simple windows and looking at the whole thing, even the dark color seems minimalist. The building has been made with basalt stone, because of the fact that due to its porosity and texture, it constantly changes in colour and reflection according to the different degrees of humidity. The wood fibers and the gray color playing togheter brings the perfect composition of colors and materials. The three facades of the building become a single skin that, thank to the continuous use of the stone even in the shutters, unifies the volume and consolidates the characteristic predominance of the massive-wall facades in the old quarter. In the inside, the shutters are wood-panelled and, once open, evolve from their anonymous presence towards singularity. Photos by: H Architects More details at dezeen.com
The Color Stripes at Bottière Chenaie
This building is more them simply cool, it's really well done and have some very useful functions: housing, public facilities and school. It's called Bottière Chenaie and is located in Nantes, France. The project was done by Block Architects, a local office in Nantes, which seems to know a lot about architecture! The particular point of this building is the vertical color stripes, bringing a special movement to this concrete block and like they said "redrawing the landscape". And what I really love in this project is how the mix of uses bring value to the urban neighborhood. This formal intention, in addition to its impact, symbolically shows the quality program of urban neighbourhoods. More about Bottière Chenaie at: dezeen.com
Architecture: Prefab Housing
One aspect of design that I really like is architecture. From huge buildings to small homes, I'll always admire a great design. On this post I'm going to focus on one of my favorite types of architecture design, Prefab Homes. I'm a huge fan of prefab housing for 3 main reasons: first and foremost I just love their design, which tends to be very unique and different from the usual home design because they tend to be environmentally friendly, often re-using large items like those big shipping containers (which has become a huge trend in prefab housing) ...and... because they seem more attainable financially (to me) than regular homes. In New York City right now there are 2 great exhibits that involve Prefab Housing. One is at the Whitney Museum of American Art. The Whitney is having a Buckminster Fuller exhibit. Fuller designed Prefabricated Housing back in the 1920s. He's best known for inventing the geodesic dome. The other exhibit deals directly with prefab housing and is at the MoMA. Both are great exhibits, if you're in the city you should definitely check them out. There is a blog that I highly enjoy reading called Inhabitat. Every friday they highlight a prefab home and I'm always looking forward to those posts. Here a few of my favorites: