Kevin Van Aelst

Finding the extraordinary in the ordinary, Cincinatti-based artist Kevin Van Aelst sent designboom images of his latest work. From droplet-formed airplanes to eggshell light globes, Van Aelst is able to take seemingly mundane objects and create captivating visual re-interpretations, requesting the viewer to complete re-assess their understanding of the subject at hand.  The pieces not only celebrate dull items, but also uses these as tools to explore and communicate more complex ideas.

The Manifestation of Traditional Chinese Architectural Language in Modern Architecture 

We have never stopped exploring the manifestation of traditional Chinese architectural language in modern architecture, starting with the effort of a modern volume with a traditional paradigm roof. This inheritance and expression are based on the context, which is divided into two categories: Adoption: A Reinterpretation of Traditions and Ablation: Disappearing out of Respect.

Read more following the source link.

Nendo stacks concrete tunnels to create archive and guesthouse in Miyota 

Japanese studio Nendo has created an archive to house its products and furniture from precast concrete box culverts in central Japan. Named Culvert Guesthouse, the archive and residence was constructed from four tunnel-like forms that were stacked on top of each other.

American architects select 11 of the country’s most influential buildings 

Dezeen asked 10 American architects, including American Institute of Architects (AIA) president-elect Kimberly Dowdell and veteran New York architect Robert AM Stern, to name the US building project that is most important to them and the history of America’s architecture.

Learn more about each project selected following the source link.

3andwich Design tops clifftop library in China with circular pool

“The library strives to have poetic tension: looking down from a high place, the building is very geometric – a circle plus a straight line,” explained 3andwich Design. “The plane shape of the main part of the building is circular, and the straight line is the outdoor corridor and long wall, which introduces people from the top of the hill into the building.”

Hub of Huts : The Village Upside Down noa* network of architecture

When noa* designed the cantilevered swimming pool for Hubertus in 2016, the studio envisioned it as a rock stranded between earth and sky. In 2019 a new assignment was granted to the architects, the design of a dedicated well-being extension. It was not an easy task for a building that had already found its symbol in the swimming pool, yet this served as inspiration for the new project.

The new structure is located on the southeast side of the façade, in a position symmetrical to the swimming pool. Like the pool, this is also detached from the main building: the platform hovers 15 metres above the ground and is supported by two pillars clad in larch logs, similar to those that punctuate the façade behind. 

Visitors reach the wellbeing area via a suspended walkway, which at the same time opens up to the newly constructed relaxation area, offering space for up to 27 people. On the platform, individual microstructures with gabled roofs accommodate the functional programme on two levels. A surprising element is the lower level, where the horizon undergoes a 180° rotation, and the huts appear to be anchored upside down.

Mosaic Canopy Made of 832 Colorful Glass Tiles Reflects a Spectrum of Sunlight

Nestled in the valley of a Sonoma winery, a colorful mosaic canopy provides a unique tasting space. Designed by Studio Other Spaces—founded in 2014 by artist Olafur Eliasson and architect Sebastian Behmann—the Vertical Panorama Pavilion brings an artistic touch to the grounds of The Donum Estate.

Pedro Reyes and Carla Fernandez pair rough concrete with crazy paving for their Mexico City home

The Mexico City home and studio of Mexican sculptor Pedro Reyes and his fashion-designer wife Carla Fernandez features crazy paving floors, as well as a staircase and double-height library rendered in coarse concrete.

Emil Eve Architects retains historic “quirks” in Shoreditch warehouse conversion

Emil Eve Architects has paired original details with contemporary finishes in this loft apartment, which it created inside a Victorian warehouse building in Shoreditch, east London.

Pioneering the Revival of Earth Architecture: Egypt, France, and India

The current ecological crisis has sparked a renewed interest in ancient traditions, especially among architects. The need for reliable and sustainable eco-architecture has led many international architects to explore vernacular eco-construction. A common belief is that vernacular practices are embedded in their time, unable to find a place in the contemporary built environment. However, many examples across the world show how knowledgeable artisans are capable of re-utilizing their skills in new ways.

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Kinetic Diamond-Shaped ‘Glasshouse’ Unfurls Like a Blooming Flower 

Mixing function and form, Heatherwick Studio has created a stunning kinetic structure at the UK’s Woolbeding Gardens. Nestled in a historic Sussex estate, Glasshouse is a glass and aluminum structure that unfurls into a crown. This beautiful marriage of art, architecture, and engineering was inspired by Victorian terrariums and is a focal point of the estate’s homage to the Silk Road.

David Mach 

David Mach is one of the UK’s most successful and respected artists, known for his dynamic and imaginative large scale collages, sculptures and installations using diverse media, including coat hangers, matches, magazines and many other materials. The Scotsman describes his work as ‘big on gesture and big in proportion, it demands your attention and gets it’.

The village of Rocca Imperiale decorated for Christmas by Mario D'Angelo

It would be a heartbreaking loss to the architectural world to lose the entire campus designed by Louis Kahn but the solutions presented by the author and the comparisons to other Indian architectural masterpieces feel disingenuous. 

Maybe a portion of the campus, maybe even one building (like the library), can be saved as a record of what once stood there designed by one of the greatest architects of the 20th century. Maybe there is a chance for adaptive reuse that can extend the life of the structures. it would make a great design challenge.

Suspension House Fougeron Architecture 

Suspended between two beautiful California hills, this remodel spans a creek and boasts a waterfall in the back yard.A man-made object in nature may exist in harmony or disparity. The goal was to reconnect this structure into the environment while best utilizing the exceptional site for the clients.

In this part of California, it is no longer legal for homes to be suspended over a creek. Therefore, there were strict guidelines on how use the existing structure as the basis for design. Most importantly, the new home had to follow the exact outline of the existing house and decks.

Sordo Madaleno Arquitectos creates doughnut-shaped clubhouse in Mexico

Cross-laminated timber and volcanic stone were used to form a round building along a lake that was designed by Mexican studio Sordo Madaleno Arquitectos. The Valle San Nicolás Clubhouse is located on the outskirts of Valle de Bravo, about two hours from Mexico City.

Set on a 385-hectare residential development, along a lake with an 800-metre waterski run, the building holds a range of spaces for relaxing and socialising.  “The natural conditions of Valle San Nicolás were explored to better understand how the two most prominent natural elements – the mountains and the lake – could converge and relate to each other through a work of architecture,” said the architecture studio.

Steve Messam 

Steve Messam is an environmental artist based in County Durham, UK and working internationally. His ephemeral site-specific installations re-imagine the everyday, interrupting historical landscapes and vacant architecture to help us perceive the familiar environment in a new way.

Ehrman Crest Elementary/Middle School near Pittsburgh aims to show how physical spaces can impact educational outcomes. The $63 million K-6 school, which opened in August, features harmonic walls that educate about sound, fractions, and energy; graphic walls with animals and numbers; and magnetic walls that let kids study local ecology. If it sounds like a children’s museum, it is: Cannon-Design and the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh partnered on the project. With security features like an art wing that doubles as a storm shelter, Ehrman Crest models the future of educational institutions.

Qingxi Culture and History Museum UAD

Located in Nanshangang, Sangzhou Town, Ninghai County, Zhejiang, the project is positioned as a small cultural and tourism building that integrates a tourist center and spaces for displaying and experiencing the local history and culture. The site is far away from the hustle and bustle of city life, with only one country road connecting several villages nearby. And there are local villagers working in fields around the site every now and then. 

Due to great height discrepancy, the plot features recessed platforms ascending from north to south, with a broad view on the north side. The site faces terraced fields on the east and west sides, and embrace the view of rolling mountains in the distance.