The Wall House by Guedes Cruz Arquitectos

Like a wall in a Castle not in stone, but in concrete, glass and wood.Not to for protection but because of the neighbours and the strong Atlantic Wind.A Patio house with a Mediterranean country culture in the hardness Atlantic Coast. A big Window opens to the golf and scenery sea views can be seen from the interior and exterior spaces. Two exterior pool’s located in the patio crossing each other, one in the ground and the other in the air.

Images by  © Ricardo Oliveira Alves

The Wall House by Guedes Cruz Arquitectos

Like a wall in a Castle not in stone, but in concrete, glass and wood.Not to for protection but because of the neighbours and the strong Atlantic Wind.A Patio house with a Mediterranean country culture in the hardness Atlantic Coast. A big Window opens to the golf and scenery sea views can be seen from the interior and exterior spaces. Two exterior pool’s located in the patio crossing each other, one in the ground and the other in the air.

Images by  © Ricardo Oliveira Alves

A Contrasting Interplays House in Switzerland

House in Riehen located in Basel, Switzerland by Reuter Raeber Architects is a house distinguished by contrasting interplays between heavy and light, load and support.

A solid wood construction consisting of four exterior sheer walls and two transverse walls forms the structure of the overlying story, where the bedrooms are located. The wood construction is left exposed to the interior, while glass and metal surfaces form a weather barrier on the exterior. The wood structure rests on two vertical concrete shear walls, cantilevering to the front and back. It is stabilized by way of cross-bracing steel tension bars on the east- and west-facing windows that hold the two wooden shear walls together. The ceiling on the ground floor is hung front to back by way of tension rods attached to the two transverse steel roof beams.

Images and text via

OFFICE Kersten Geers & David van Severen - City villa renovation, Brussels 2013. Amazing details and materiality. The historic home is broken up by a new concrete grid on the ground level, creating a structural order that intersects the old space. New relationships are formed between old and new as seen in the concrete exterior stair and new interior stair framed by the columns. Veining in the green marble adjacent to the garden reflects the movements of the plants, and is referenced with lightly stained plywood on the interior. I love everything by these guys. Via.

Thanks to the circular openings in the concrete slabs of the loggias, the large-scale residential complex Pegli 3 in Genoa is also called “Le Lavatrici” meaning “The washing machines”. 

Aldo Luigi Rizzo: Pegli 3 “Le Lavatrici”, Genoa, Italy, 1980–1989⁠⠀ ⁠⠀ 

http://sosbrutalism.org/cms/18876575   ⁠⠀ ⁠⠀ 

Photos: © @stepegphotography 2016⁠⠀ ⁠⠀ #SOSBrutalism #brutalism #brutalist #brutalist_architecture #concrete #brut #betonbrut #rawconcrete #genoa #italy

Isolée by tjep

An ecologically friendly getaway - an escape from the reality of our busy days - ‘isolée’ is a small dwelling which combines smart technology
with attention to detail, offering one a quaint retreat which has little impact on the environment.

Conceived by frank tjepkema of tjep, the intelligent house ensures minimal fuel reliance.
From its exterior, a solar tree of circular photovoltaic panels extends from the rooftop, each following the movement of the sun throughout the course of the day to maximize absorption.The massive shutters which span the length of the building, are fastened to the main body of the structure via hinges equipped with electrical motors. the solar energy generated from the cabin
is used to operate this computer controlled network, angling the louvered panels to the inhabitants liking, automatically closing when a storm approaches.

Maiden Tower Marte.Marte Architekten

From the architect:

What could match the massive presence of Marte‘s concrete home, this raw, stony material, this self-contained unit? Oxidizing steel: just as raw, just as authentic in its expression and its properties. The interior impression remains the same – wood surfaces, warm colors, fine pores. The new exterior structure, on the other hand, is masculine, striving skywards, rising up from the surrounding landscape like the neighboring pear tree. That behind the massive exterior lies a building of lightweight materials may be inspired by the tale of the Trojan horse. A new space opens up between the two buildings, complemented by an in-ground pool – uncompromising, hard, less sensible, but therefore all the more magical, idiosyncratic, and sensuous. 

Oxidizing steel on the walls and bottom, encased like in a suit of armor. The tower also appears this way with its steel ventilation flaps to the north and south and fixed glazing to the east. Rapunzel, Rapunzel…. Through the library, down a few steps into the separate kitchen, and then through the dining room, facing the pool, the little princesses can climb the newel stairs to their bedrooms. There, they are presented with a view, on the one hand, of their parents’ protective house and, on the other, the nearby scenic forest. The spatial perspective mirrors this interplay of freedom and guidance, becoming a symbol of their possibilities for development within the family.

Images and text via Marte.Marte Architekten