This property adjoins a large lake in a small town situated a few hours from Mexico City. To take full advantage of the relationship with the surroundings, a system of elongated rectangular volumes was used, with one side of each completely open toward the lake. The sloping plot and the amount of surface to be realized led to the creation of three volume stacked in a zigzag pattern, generating spacious open terraces and irregular, sheltered patios between them. From the street, the residence looks like a traditional construction; the use of roof tiles, wood, natural stone, and the plastered facade with small openings, grants it the regional character that is required by urban planning requirements. From the lake, the home becomes a composition of rectangular elements with large glass surfaces; like a series of typical modernist volumes, stacked in a dynamic configuration.

Completed in 1996, the Rachofsky House revisits questions of architectural scale and philosophy that have been central to our firm’s practice for three decades: the importance of procession from exterior to interior, and from formal to intimate domain; the role of natural light in defining living spaces; the relationship between manmade structure and its natural surroundings; and the correlation between private dwelling and community. Because this residence has been designed for an individual, we were able to explore in it certain materials and design elements that might otherwise have been impractical for a family that has many different priorities, traffic patterns and schedules. In other words, the Rachofsky House is an ideal – an investigation into all of the possibilities of house as a building type without many of the usual compromises. I like to think that the Rachofsky House is a kind of elegant case study, an exercise that encourages us to reflect upon what our notions of house and home encompass.

A visit to the Rachofsky House unfolds as a kind of procession through a series of zones, taking one from the outdoors to indoors, and then back outdoors again. All of the spaces of the house, works of contemporary art, and vignettes of the surrounding landscape combine to animate the interiors of the house. Grass, trees, pond and sky are visible from every angle of the house.

The heart of the house is the second floor living room. Secrets of the entire site are revealed through the double-height plane of windows that serve as a permeable membrane between nature and home. Whereas the front façade of the house is reserved and opaque, the back façade dissolves and allows constantly changing plays of light and silhouette to amaze people within and outside the house. Ultimately, the purpose of the Rachofsky House is to provide a place of residence and respite. Thepotential of the house as a work of architecture is as a catalyst for further contemplation of nature and art, and the science of bringing them together in harmony.

– Richard Meier

Architect: Richard Meier & Partners Architects, LLP
Location: Dallas, Texas, United States
Design Team: Richard Meier, Thomas Phifer
Structural Engineer: Ove Arup & Partners
Project Year: 1996
Photographs: Michael Bodycomb, D Jules Gianakos, Tom Jenkins

Architects: OV-A
Location: Kraluv Dvur, Czech Republic
Head Architects: Jiri Opocensky, Stepan Valouch
Structural Engineering: Jan Pohl
Completion: 2009
Site area: 1212 sqm
Built area: 225 sqm
Total floor area: 188 sqm
Photographs: Tomas Soucek

ocation

A newly developed sloping plot at the edge of the town

Assignment

A single-story house for a family of five, with an unfenced garden and a layout with bedrooms in close proximity to the common living area

Architecture

A single-story house built over a square ground plan, without a cellar and with a flat roof, three bedrooms with amenities facing to the north and delineating the common living area with extends to the exteriors through roofed terraces, the facade, with its glazed walls, are covered by larch wood shutters witch can be used to create further rooms, the house works as a gazebo providing views of the valley and the wooded slopes opposite

Constructions and technologies

The load-bearing construction of the timber frame house consists of I-beams, thermal insulation of mineral wool and wainscotting, the flat ventilated roof is covered with a PVC foil with a layer of pebble rock on top, the facade system is composed of glazed walls in aluminum frames, terraces are from tropical wood, jatoba was chosen material for he interior industrial strip flooring.

House S is located in a quiet residential area in a center of Tokyo. The site is of the house is a cul-de-sac, removed from the main thoroughfares,and was once a samurai residence, so their are old pine and zelkova trees in the area.
Such surroundings, even in the midst of the city, significantly impacted the design.

The house includes many gardens on each floor of the house, to bring the surrounding landscape into the house. In the end, the house will be part of this larger landscape, and in the meantime the green surroundings will help with privacy.

The clients wanted to insure that they could enjoy this larger landscape, as well as the art and furnishings that they have collected. We extensively discussed both their life style and a setting for these furnishings – and how to mold materials, light, air and space to fit this broader goal.All materials, lighting and space are in constructed within the house to work with art and furniture,as well as function. Details and colors are considered for these things. They should be silent, but should have an identity.Most of the design details were developed specifically for this house, with this overall purpose in mind, down to handles, steps and windows.

The structure is complex, but we tried not to make this visible. The space was considered first in terms of the light from the outside, the flow of air, and the planning of art. Enjoyable to see or feel each in the space,and on each level, howing four clear seasons with different light and feelings.

House-S, “S” take client’s name and site name as it was created out of the fusion of the the multitude of things that were important to the site and to the client, rather than for a single, simple theme.

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Site:東京　Architect: 芦沢啓治建築設計事務所　Project architect： 芦沢啓治/本條理恵　Structural engineer：:ASA 鈴木啓　施工：松本コーポレーション

photo:Daici Ano

House-Sの敷地は都心にある住宅地にあり、クルドサックになった一角にある。嘗ての屋敷跡ということもあり、敷地周辺には豊かな緑を蓄えている。また高台にあるため都市を望む景観があり涼風が常に南北に吹く。東京ではもはや見ることが難しい赤松や樹齢が大きな木々は、この住宅地に風格を作り出している。こうした外部空間との関係は当然のことながら、設計に大きな影響を与えた。

出来るだけ大きく効果的な庭ををつくるため建築は敷地の北東側に寄せ、南西側に細長く庭をとることにした。エントリーゾーンは日本庭園、ダイニングの前に石でつくられたベンチや食事ができるようなアクティブなスペースとして、奥の庭は密度をあげ近隣とのプライバシーの干渉となるよう3つの異なる性格を与えている。２階にはゲストルームとマスターベッドルームの緩衝地帯として、またリビングへ光を落とすために開放された中庭を設けた。苔の山をつくり、真中に個性的な日本の木を植えた。この中庭は、１階の庭と空間的に繋がり、敷地沿いに植えられた樫による高垣の緑と視覚的に繋がっていくことで、中庭というよりも周辺環境を引き出す装置にもなってい。３階は北東側に大きく庭をとり、北側斜線規制をかわし、目線がきれる程度に生垣を配し、アウトドアバスルームと食事ができる隣家の緑が借景となるテラスを配置。さらにアウトドアキッチンと一体で作られた階段を登っていくと、都会の景色と涼風を楽しむためのテラスがあり外部で使用できるソファーを配置した。こうした外部空間は完全ではないが、プライバシーを守りながら近隣の植栽による借景をいかしつつ、同時に新しい近隣環境を作り出した。そいて内部空間へ大きな建具とガラスによって取り込むことを意図している。

外部空間を楽しめる住宅を作ると同時に、クライアントが持つ版画や家具を鑑賞できるスペースについても設計当初から検討された。そうしたアートが美しく生活と混ざり合う、あるいはアートがあるべき空間として、特に材料、そしてデティールには細心の注意を払った。ゆえに、あらゆるデティールは一から検討され、照明器具や取っ手といった小さな部品までデザイン、制作をすることになった。また表に見えてくる素材、その一つ一つを吟味し話し合い、見つかるまで探し続けるというプロセスを経た。例えば木や石の床材、テーブルの天板、そして植栽は特に探すことには手間を惜しまなかった。結果として植栽はクライアントと共に３回も山に見に行くことになり、石に関しては中国の山から直接買うというリスクも請け負うことになったのだが、そのリスクと時間をかけた分だけの価値はあったと自負している。

クライアントの要望と、外部環境との関係を精査していった結果、実にシンプルな構造体に納まっていはいるが、角度や階によって大きく変わる外部環境やトップライトから入っていくる光の豊かさにより、空間の見え方がドラマティックに変わっていく。そこにアートや時が刻まれた家具や小物達、そして季節ごとに多様な顔をみせてくれる庭の木々たちが彩りを加える。

House-S　のSは敷地とクライアントのイニシャルである。まさに住宅とはクライアントと環境から生まれるものだということをこの家で再確認したゆえの名前である。

The collaboration of three Toronto-based firms, JET Architecture, JCI Architects, andTerraplan Landscape Architects, has won the commission to build the “Shobuj Pata” (Green Leaf) Eco Community Development in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Project description from the architects:

The landmark “Shobuj Pata” (Green Leaf) Eco Community Development by Rupayan Housing Estate Ltd., one of the largest developers in Bangledesh, will be an oasis with green trees, plants and vegetation.   This sustainable garden city of the future will be located on the outskirts of Dhaka, the capital of the Bangladesh. Named after “Green Leaf” in Bengali, the construction of Shobuj Pata garden city begins in 2012. The project will be ready to house 10,000 people in 2015, with habitable space for 2300 – 2400 dwelling units and convention centre, mosque, retail, school, etc. Green Leaf will become a livable low-carbon community incorporating landscape elements with architecture.

JET Architecture was invited by JCI Architects along with  Terraplan Landscape Architects, to joint venture in the design of the Green Leaf project.   After winning the commission earlier in 2011, on December 16th, 2011, the final negotiations were completed to enable the project to move forward quickly.   The team will be working together, helping Bangladesh to design a sustainable community with an innovative green concept.  Green Leaf is green landscape architecture and built form which takes full advantages of the local natural resources to create a hybrid habitable space combining architecture and nature. The concept is inspired by adopting current and green innovative technology to make the design construction economic and feasible.

Bangladesh is a naturally lush green country with abundant rainfall every year. It is actually the country with the highest annual average rainfall in the world. Due to the hot and humid climate, a heat island effect occurs naturally in Dhaka. In order to deal with these extreme conditions, local ecology, micro climate and natural environment must all be key architectural influences during the design stage. Another challenge in Green Leaf is to find the balance by combining passive and technologically sustainable strategies in order to achieve high energy efficiency and performance within a high density atmosphere. The design team has found the perfect solution to form the complex by designing the building envelope with vernacular textures and vegetation. Green Leaf’s open-air architecture becomes an extension of the natural landscape, where interior and exterior spaces become interchangeable. The façade has used local vegetation as the design element to bring Bengali landscape into the heart of the built form, which stretches from the ground up to the rooftops.

To direct rainwater runoff away from buildings, and to prevent water overflow, bioswales are incorporated along the street edges throughout the ground plane. The bioswales also act as a rainwater filtration system retaining excess water for irrigation of the gardens and parks within the development. In the dry seasons, these water featured areas can function as additional water recreation space. In case of excessive storm water, green roofs are designed to mitigate the runoff and assist water and air purification. Furthermore, these systems can also reduce overall building energy consumption and moderate the urban heat island effects. The green wall acts as an air filtration system and creates its own microclimate which mitigates heat gain in the units as well as reducing both indoor air and outdoor radiated temperature. Reinforcing the idea of cross-ventilation, the thin profile and shallow floor plates which align with the local main wind direction generate a stunning configuration and provide opportunities for natural daylight to be accessible on both sides of the units.

Green Leaf is not only acting as natural demarcation for spaces and activities; the various vegetated landscapes also create a green network that reconnects the urban population with the natural landscape of Bangladesh through a system of parks, paths and open public spaces. The planting species include fast-growing trees which create a comfortable microclimate for residents and visitors. One of the most important functions of the green façade is that it offers shade during intense heat and helps oxygenate surrounding air. The hedges, inspired by gardens that are carefully designed and organized, become the buildings in the Green Leaf plan, defining habitable space within the natural landscapes. They create a sense of living among trees, differentiated from a typical urban context. Smaller squares and parkettes closer to the centre contrast soft edges with hardscape materials that are necessary for active spaces. The landscape contains the key functions of this urban enclave. The garden city contains a central square with a market, commercial spaces, and educational and religious institutions that become an accessible public focus for gathering and events, encouraging the experience of city and nature simultaneously.

With private courtyards and gardens aligned with the spaces between buildings and bioswales preventing potential water overflow, this bio-integration of architecture and natural landscape will define a new development paradigm for Bangladesh that maximizes density, value and returns, both ecologically and economically. Exhibiting sustainable designs that embrace vernacular landscapes, Green Leaf architecture draws from the lushness of the Bengali landscape and gives both beauty and function back to its surroundings.

Apartment Houses Data:
Total area of the island (sq. m.): 38,000
Total building area (sq. m.): 16,200
Total useful area (sq. m.): 34,600
Total area of the main street (sq. m.): 3400
Area of buildings: 116,500
Number of buildings: 12
Average area of apartments (sq. m.): 98
Number of floors: 9
Coefficient of built area: 3,3
Central square on the road (sq. m.): 1500
Total area of green terraces: 7200
Townhouses Data:
Total area of the island (sq. m.): 21,600
The total building area (sq. m.): 7,488
Total useful area (sq. m.): 27,000
Total area of the main street (sq. m.): 2,600
Number of residential units: 255
Average area of a townhouse (sq. m.): 106
Number of floors: 4
Coefficient of built area: 1,21
Total area of greenery planting on the ground floor: 8,600
Total area of green terraces on the 2-rd and 3-th floors: 2,900
Total area of the green walking zone on the roof: 5,500
Total green area (sq. m.): 17,000
Year: 2011

Skolkovo Innovation Center (‘Russian Silicon Valley’), a high-tech hub to be built at Skolkovo near Moscow, Russia, is intended to concentrate international intellectual capital, thereby stimulating the development of break-through projects and technologies. The modern approach to residential buildings often creates a feeling of isolation. A person has his or her own apartment and a little garden, while neighbors are perceived as competitors. The new residential area, including apartment houses and townhouses, designed by Arch Group, is designed for temporary accommodation of the scientific elite shown in the apartment houses while the townhouses feature a multi-layered environment. More images and architects’ description after the break.

The complex will be built within the limits of New Ivanovo and Odintsovo townships, near the village of Skolkovo located in the eastern part of Moscow’s Odintsovsky on the Skolkovsky highway, 2 km west of the MKAD Moscow beltway. The Skolkovo project was announced on November 12th, 2009 by Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev.

The residential clusters are situated in a unique ecological environment. The architectural solution should not only provide comfortable accommodation for the residents but also form a creative environment that encourages people to communicate, exchange experiences, and help in the creative process.

Apartment Houses

The district from the north to the south is permeated with pedestrian lanes with “green corridors”, which connect the cluster to the park. Along them, residential buildings are built. This forms long green prospects. The central square covers the transit road, protecting the houses from noise and dirt.

We want to avoid the feeling of a dense urban development. This is why the buildings are shaped as the natural landscape and green hills. Between them there is a lot of air and space. The slopes of the hills are green terraces, so even the buildings themselves are a part of the natural recreational space. Facades and windows of the apartments are slightly turned towards the forest. All houses are connected by pedestrian paths on the second level between the lobbies. This forms project’s single communicative space. Public functions are situated on the ground floor of the houses. Parking and technical services are situated on the underground level. Lanes for running and cycling are situated all around the area.

Artificial nests for swifts are located on the roofs of all houses. This improves the area environment and gives it a special atmosphere. Trees and grass are planted on all the terraces and roofs of the houses.

Townhouses

The district is located in the park. One main road connects the “island” with other similar areas. This gives the possibility to consider each residential cluster as an energy core, an urban cluster. The principles of organization of the district are similar to the medieval cities of Europe and the Middle East, where over the centuries a complex, three-dimensional urban environment was formed. Each house there has its own character and its own history.

We create a multi-layered environment, with the links between individual houses and terraces. We create a system of picturesque routes and green terraces and consider that all the houses should be different, with various planning solutions, with different terraces and entrances. This is not a typical social housing but a temporary home for creative, active people. Within the area, small squares with trees, fountains or children’s playgrounds are formed. This will give even more individuality to each part of the complex and will help with internal navigation.

All houses are connected by pedestrian promenade paths on the third and fifth levels. From the main road departs a network of internal passages. Many streets and alleys form private courtyards and entrances. On top of all residential units, on the fifth floor, a network of pedestrian alleys is organized. This promenade can be reached by lifts, located in each group of residential units. Upper residential modules are smaller than the lower modules. This allows organizing insulation of all apartments. On the roofs of the houses, there are special nests for swifts, which rid the area of insects in the summer.

Architects: AGi Architects
Location: Jabriya, State of Kuwait
Design Team: Dr. Nasser B. Abulhasan, Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea, Salvador Cejudo, Gwenola Kergall, Daniel Munoz, Stefania Rendinelli, Carmen Sagredo, Bruno Gomes, Jose Del Campo, Lucia Sanchez, Sharifa Alshalfan, Hanan Alkouh, Robert Varghese, Babu Abraham, Moyra Montoya, Nicolas Martin
Type: Housing | 6468sm
Year: 2010/2011
Client: Wafra Real Estate Co.

Located in Jabriya, surrounded by residential buildings and commercial facilities; The proposed design for the ,Wafra Living, complex, which consists of a ,high rise building set back from the street and an L-shaped building defining the street edge,, is conceived as a new type of Landmark
Comfort, modernity, sustainability, social interactions, leisure, technology, tradition… All these are concepts that we intend to be at the core of our proposal. It is our pursuit that is this high-end residential complex works as the catalyst to blend together a new image of every-day life that matches with both modern and traditional users while providing the city with a new landmark, a world-class reference for the area.
,A place with character and the highest quality environment and buildings
,Wafra Living allows the architecture to define the edge of the block and creating a series of open spaces within the plot for the community, with various uses,.  This development sets an example of how to approach urban issues and allows us to redefine other areas in the city by becoming a ,catalyst and a reference for the future,. Our idea is not to impose a new way of living completely detached from the Kuwaiti society, rather a ,transformation from the past that is translated into a vertical development,. We aim to combine various levels of privacy within the complex, from the residential scale to the surrounding public community level.
One of the main design aims is to ,maximize privacy, within the community, whilst ,providing ample natural light and usable indoor and outdoor common spaces,. This is achieved by having an L-shaped building along the street edge to the north and east limits, and a high-rise tower in the back, that helps define the back more private street. Cuts have been made in the front building in order to provide better views for the lower floor apartments in the back tower.
A screen is created on the façade as an occupiable layer that conceals the various service spaces within the apartments that do not directly relate to the public. It is a unifying element throughout the project that is seen as a constructed space, rather than an aesthetic façade layer, that can be used for various purposes. It defines the whole compound as it starts on the 6 meter elevated plaza and grows, like ivy, vertically and horizontally, complementing the rest of the façade. This layer hosts ,the fire escape stairs, separated away from the cores to be placed in this secondary circulation layer that faces the inner courtyard of the complex,. They lead to various outdoor platforms that would be utilized as gathering points for leisure activities for the tenants and their guests.
At the same time, the building facades directly adjacent to neighboring buildings are completely closed off, to block unwanted views.,We also create a gradient from the public to the private,, in order to serve both scales simultaneously, without one interfering with the other.
To further enhance the public/private relationship within this vertical development, the ,ground floor is offered back to the surrounding neighborhood through the retail facilities included.
The six meter elevated plaza then becomes the private pedestrian area for the community, allowing the ground floor to become an extension of the street that is predominantly public for the pedestrians and private for car access.,

Sited on the edge of an open agricultural reserve, LSS sought to capture the qualities of traditional barn structures while developing a modern building responding to the site’s dramatic views.
The entry draws one through the building’s louvered skin into a two-story foyer overlooking a three story interior garden courtyard. The house’s public spaces are elevated to the second floor to capture the long views. The main space is an open living, dining and kitchen hall with a ceiling-scape of delicate three-dimensional hybrid wood-and-steel timber frame members and slot skylight above. A stone fireplace divides this hall from the outdoor, screened porch beyond.  An upper mezzanine opens to a rooftop garden connected to a study tucked into the rafters.
A translucent wrapper of louvers and rain screen siding unifies the various internal and external spaces. In all, five outdoor courts and garden spaces are unified under the single roof, giving the structure a double reading of complexity from up close, and simple monolithic harmony from afar.
When lit at night, the main house shines from within creating a gauzy translucence rarely seen in solid, volumetric structures.

The Louver House received an AIA National Housing Award and a Residential Architect Design Award.

EUROPAN 11 – LEEUWARDEN HOUSING – URBAN WATER LILIES
LEEUWARDEN, NETHERLANDS
EUROPAN 11
Team: OODA: Diogo Brito, Rodrigo Vilas-Boas, Francisco Lencastre, Francisca Santos, Diogo Mesquita, Lourenço Menezes
OOIIO – www.ooiio.com: Joaquín Millán Villamuelas, Jesús Reyes García, Joanna Siejak, Ana Sánchez Torrecilla, Emiliano d´Incecco, Ana Mendicuti, Juan José Ortega López
Result: Settled

The design of the proposal was instinctively developed under basic and determinant assumptions reflected from the local. Water, rurality, urbanity and cultural habits and traditions.

We have tried to form an interactive balance among all the premises and found in nature a conceptual framework that served as a starting point for the formalization of our urban housing plan. The floating water lilies.

This living in water organisms are in their essence specimens that naturally make a “bridge” between water and land world, developing a particular and sustainable ecosystem. Simultaneously the floating water lilies are also a recognizable icon of the Friesland province identity.

Our proposal design was based in this concept, trying to develop a new parallel urban system.

The need to combine and establish environmental relationships within the study area and the city of Leeuwarden, led us to a cellular organization, created from the abstraction of a water lilies set.

Through the juxtaposition , overlap and repetition of the floating cells we were able to organize and develop a unique residential and common environment with high integration of water, green spaces and agricultural areas.

In this way it was possible to bring together all the new residential habits and the natural /rural preexistences, creating a sustainable residential system in harmonious coexistence with the urban and natural environments.

All the urban plan was created in a cellular matrix brought by the water lilies abstraction where all the ground floor access housing units, toghether with all the sports, agricultural and public spaces set in water, like floating water lily pad. In this sense all the apartment housing blocks are the exceptional forms with a more vertical assumption, and that are also related with the concept representing the abstraction of the Water lily flower.