Posts in Architecture

The Porsche Museum in Zuffenhausen, Germany is nothing short of mind blowing. The ultra-clean, super-minimal building houses over 80 exhibits chronicling the auto-maker’s rise to prominence. The whole thing leans pretty futuristic, would have liked to have seen a few classic cues here and there, but I’m certainly not complaining. Has anyone been yet? Looks like a must-see if you’re anywhere near Stuttgart.

Porsche Museum via Designlenta

It always seemed odd to me that I never see these beautiful houses while out and about. But then again, if you have the money to build an amazing house, chances are you’ll have the money to properly gate it or purchase secluded property. In this case though, this house was built smack dab on a steep hill just outside of Seattle.

After coming across the house on Deforest Architect’s website I realized that I had seen it before while it was being constructed. By its looks at the time, it appeared substantially nicer than any of the surrounding houses. Because of that I had assumed it was an oddly placed office building rather than a home.

As you go inside the house it opens up with a modern, metal and wood theme. The wood is even complimented by the metal of two turntables and a mixer atop a small, raised cove above the living room.

Note: There is a skateboard deck giveaway going on at Wanken right now, you can enter here.

Houses like this one outside of Rigi-Scheidegg, Switzerland just make my jaw drop. The view is simply stunning. There is nothing like being able to look out above your neighbors’ houses, through a 5-meter long window or in the lawn chairs on the deck and still see a mountain range with snowcapped peaks every morning. You just couldn’t ask for a more beautiful view.

Parts of the house utilize a lower ceiling to help give it that mountain hut vibe. It’s also helped by the cement and wood combination, giving a super raw feel. It’s almost too raw which doesn’t make the house feel all that comforting. A little interior flare would warm it up and make it more welcoming. Perhaps some deer head mounts on the wall or large floor rugs would do the trick.

Found in the archives of Arch daily.

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I spent today walking around Aoyoma, a fairly upscale shopping district near Harajuku in Tokyo. One of the more distinctive features of the area is the Prada building, designed by the Swiss duo Herzog & de Meuron. It was really hot walking around it and staring up at the sun, but I couldn’t resist the opportunity to shoot such a cool looking structure. The way the glass warps the interior while simultaneously reflecting the exterior makes for some really interesting compositions. From immediately below, looking up at the sky, the building kind of resembles bubble wrap, or perhaps the bottom of an almost boiling pot. My favorite part is the color contrast of the cross sections, between the black of the edges and the off-white of the supports. The attendants inside kept tossing me suspicious glances, once they figured out I was *not* there to buy anything.

I passed by this evening as well and the building looked awesome in a completely different way. Kind of like a 24 hour bee hive. Unfortunately I didn’t have my camera; I would have really liked to round out the photo group with a few night shots. On an unrelated note, I didn’t have my camera because I was on the way to a Mike Stern concert at the Blue Note. If you are remotely into progressive jazz guitar at all, check out his music. He and the band (especially bassist Richard Bona) really tore the roof off the place tonight.

Miller/Hull designed this house for a young couple that had a high interest in modern architecture. The completed house fits perfectly with the Pacific Northwest theme and is situated in the woods of Mercer Island near Seattle.

Personally it’s one of my favorites in the Pacific Northwest. The ratio of wood to metal beams/siding seems nicely balanced, especially on the deck.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CVKU3ErrGM

The Fallingwater house was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and built during 1934-1937 in Mill Run, Pennsylvania. The house was originally a weekend home for Edgar Kaufmann and his family. Over time the house has become a historic landmark and also known as one of the most well known residences in the United States by the American Institute of Architects.

Wright’s goal for this house was to make man and nature harmonious, much like Japanese architecture. Instead of building the house alongside the waterfall like the Kaufmann family originally had planned, Wright designed the house to sit directly on top of the falls. The house then became part of the falls; the sounds of the water echoing throughout the entire house.

Images via Arch Daily.

The best thing about this residence is that it was built over thirty-five years ago by Bates Masi Architects and was recently restored back to its original simplistic form. This would explain why the exterior wood paneling is so perfectly aged in relation to the interior paneling of the house.

The wooden panels alongside other elements of the house, were re-used in the restoration. Nearly all of the panels both inside and outside of the house are twelve-inch wide cypress boards. These knot-filled boards to me seem like the perfect fit when viewing the house in its surrounding environment.

Any architecture that is built with nature in mind, is made with concrete and has wooden interior elements, immediately gets an instant like from me. There’s just something about the combination of wood, concrete and trees that I love.

In this case the trees were included by law. Local construction codes of Mar Azul, Beunos Aires, Argentina actually restrict the removal of trees. Instead of relocating the house the architects, Martín Fernández de Lema and Nicolás F. Moreno Deutsch, decided to build the house around them. Leaving the end result a beautifully designed, wide open house that is seemingly the perfect spring or summertime residence.

Images via Arch Daily.

This stunning Spanish monument to modernism is located in Madrid, Spain. The “Delifin & Postigo House” is the residence of fashion designer David Delfin and photographer Gorka Postigo. Incredible; can’t get enough of high ceilings like this.

Via Emma

I’ve been spending most of my recent waking hours looking for an apartment in San Francisco. Most of what I see looks like it was built in 1900 (because it was) and is light years away from an architectural style I gravitate towards. I prefer styles like what you see above for Plastic Moon by Norisada Maeda Atlier. (Good luck finding this in SF.)

As weird and crazy as it looks, I think this is fantastic. Reminds me a little of the Micro Compact Home, though I don’t think you can pick up and move everything quite as easily. Sterile looking? Perhaps, but that’s what you get when you combine a living space, dental clinic, and a swimming pool all into one space. I bet I could get a lot of work done here if I switched out the dental clinic for a design firm. I would live in Plastic Moon instantly. And of course, a little resemblance to Jakub’s Moodgadget cube never hurts anybody.

via designboom