THE SUNDANESE HOUSE Three hundred steps lead down to the Sundanese village of Kampung Naga. Here, in this valley of West Java, Indonesia, the people consciously maintain the knowledge of their ancestors and their traditional lifestyles in a close relationship with nature. This philosophy extends to their construction methods using local materials of timber, stone, bamboo, and palm leaves. — Published 2007.0307
	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
	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
	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
	SWISS AMBASSADOR’S RESIDENCE The most unusual buildings in the U.S. capital city are often those erected by foreign governments for their embassies. Some are insipid interpretations of a country's architectural traditions. Others are inspired efforts to combine the best of a country's past architecture with cutting-edge trends. — Published 2007.0110
	CONTAINER HOUSE Modular intermodal cargo Containers used to serve primarily for transporting massive amounts of manufactured goods across oceans. But an ongoing imbalance in trade volume between Asia and North America contributes to a surplus of these huge corrugated metal boxes around ports in the United States. And as shipping containers become ubiquitous, architects are increasingly incorporating them into creative buildings. — Published 2007.0103
	PREFAB PLATINUM On a cloudy day in April 2006, a crowd of curious onlookers gathered on a hillside street in Santa Monica, California, to watch the installation of the first LivingHomes prefabricated house. Over the course of eight hours, 11 modules were hoisted by crane onto a concrete slab in a dramatic departure from traditional residential construction. — Published 2006.1206
	FOBA KYOTO Some architects pursue consistent themes that can be adjusted to any site or building type, while others take a fresh approach to every project, giving each a distinctive expression. FOBA, the firm that Katsu Umebayashi established on the outskirts of Kyoto in 1994, has a foot in both camps. — Published 2006.0927
	SONG OF FOUR SEASONS The newly opened Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto, designed by Diamond and Schmitt Architects, Inc., combines the best features of traditional European grand opera houses within a thoroughly modern envelope. With a world-class opera company in each of Canada's three largest cities, it may come as a surprise that none claims a purpose-built modern opera house. Until now. — Published 2006.0621
	HOUSE FOR MIDNIGHT SUN In the river delta of Oulu, Finland, the natural environment is likely the toughest factor an architect has to consider. In the upper reaches of cold country, the price one pays for summer's midnight sun is long, cold winters — which usually make large glass surfaces impractical and fortress-thick walls a sound investment. — Published 2006.0419

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