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WORKING LIGHT
Imagine rushing through an underground subway station and suddenly looking up into the sky to realize that the earth has turned a few degrees and the weather has changed. This is the reaction that architect and artist James Carpenter wants to create with his daylight-bending projects. — Published 2007.0418
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BIG RIPPLES
Magic in architecture often occurs when the client presents the architect with clear criteria and formidable challenges and when, rather than engineer around obstacles, the designer embraces the challenges as opportunities to enrich the project.
Such was the case with the Heifer International Center, in Little Rock, Arkansas, designed by Polk Stanley Rowland Curzon Porter Architects. The result is a building that meets the client's needs with stellar design and an anticipated LEED-Gold rating. — Published 2007.0404
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KUROKAWA ART CENTER
According to architect Kisho Kurokawa, the new National Art Center Tokyo is a perfect expression of his philosophy of symbiosis. Rather than trying to iron out irregularities and resolve contradictions into what he calls a "dull, flat harmony," his distinctly non-Western idea seeks to apply conflicts and tensions in positive ways to achieve interesting and energizing effects. — Published 2007.0404
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CASA MAULEEN
On a beach near an abandoned mine on Chile's former "coal coast," the Mauleen House merges historical industrial connections with the raw beauty and energy of the location. Concrete winch towers of the Schwager coal mine dominate the neighborhood's horizon and influence details of the house design. — Published 2007.0328
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POSTCARD FROM SHANGHAI
Dear ArchitectureWeek,
In the interior design of its own three-story office space in downtown Shanghai, China, completed in April 2006, MoHen Design International emphasizes decorative elements. The reception desk is a glass case lit from the inside, an island of light in a dark space. In the main office and work space, cubicles line two opposite walls. Two long faux-finished tables for collaborative work stretch lengthwise down the middle of the room, flanked by furry, bench-style seats. Task lighting drops from the ceiling. — Published 2007.0314
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LEAVES OF GLASS
Glass, as a building material, offers a special interlayer between our outer and inner space and has opened up and contained, as well as sheltered and revealed, the architecture of its time. Architects' pursuit of the minimal environmental envelope has created an evolutionary and reductionist approach, whereby glass has become a predominant and essential cladding material of contemporary architecture. — Published 2007.0228
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RED BULL HQ
Visitors ascend from street level by elevator and enter the new Red Bull headquarters via a rooftop reception lobby. This dramatic entry sequence, from a small ground-floor lobby to a grand, rooftop terrace overlooking London's West End, is heightened by views from the terrace down into and through the building. — Published 2007.0228
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ESSEX STREET HOUSE
Australian architect Andrew Maynard is bursting with theories. He develops concepts such as "malleable space" into architectural "products" such as a mobile bedroom unit, with the ultimate goal being to transform it into architecture. The process sounds simple enough, but Maynard is the first to acknowledge that such conversions are rarely smooth. "Reality is always getting our floaty idealized concepts dirty, and that is half of the fun." — Published 2007.0221
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BOTTANICAL SPA
The Tschuggen Bergoase spa, nestled in the mountains near St. Moritz, Switzerland, takes on a cathedral-like quality. It was designed by Swiss architect Mario Botta who is renowned for his museums and sacred spaces. In contrast to the neighboring Tschuggen Hotel, the spa wears a sleek, timeless design that signals a shift into an interior space of natural quiet. — Published 2007.0207
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STAL TRE HUS
An American caricature of a ski chalet has an A-frame roof, enough timber to build a dozen houses, and a trophy elk head over a stone fireplace. Defying this stereotype is the "Stal Tre Hus" by architect Joel Sherman, principal of JLS Design. With a name meaning "steel tree house" in Norwegian, this house features a flat roof, a steel structure, and neither elk head nor traditional fireplace. — Published 2007.0124
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