COASTAL ARCHITECTURE

Over the last few decades, BOORA Architects has become known as one of the west coast's premier design firms, fusing the resources of a large company with the design acumen of a smaller, boutique practice. Now one of BOORA's most impressive projects is also one of its smallest: a single family house perched on a wooded hillside on the rugged Oregon coast, designed and inhabited by firm principal Stanley Boles, FAIA. Next week Portland writer Brian Libby will show us around.

TRAVEL POSTCARD FROM RONCHAMP

In April 2003, a small group of young British designers left home to travel the world by bicycle. Their route will take them literally around the globe, recording architectural and urban spaces as they go, crossing Europe and Asia and biking up through Central and North America over the course of one year. Next week team leaders Matt Bridgestock and Adam Mellotte will send ArchitectureWeek a postcard from Notre Dame du Haut, at Ronchamp, France, designed by the renowned early-20th-century architect Le Corbusier.

ART AND CRAFT IN CONCRETE COUNTERTOPS

Using concrete for kitchen countertops is not without precedent. Around the turn of the last century, a poured-in-place cement material called magnesite, ground and polished to a high sheen, was very popular with avant-garde architects such as Rudolf Schindler. Now the concept is experiencing a renewal in popularity thanks in part to concrete countertop expert Fu-Tung Cheng. Next week he'll show us how he works and what he makes.