Holiday Villa in Japan by ARTechnic

“The plan was to build the villa around the big fir tree as the center of the site, with a row of pine trees as the main view. Initially, we had planned to build a shell structure with three dimensionally curved surfaces, and the C shaped section was to surround the fir tree and the plan of the building resembled the letter J. The scenery conjures a SF film-like image, in which locals inhabit over an abandoned spacecraft. With time, trees start to grow encircling the spacecraft, harmonizing it into the landscape.”

“Being in sync with nature isn’t about yielding to nature – it’s about coexistence. The existence of the structure depends on its power to endure nature”.
- Kotaro Ide of ARTechnic

Holiday Villa, Karuizawa, Japan, by Designer, for ARTechnic

Embrace Rust — Xeros Residence by Blank Studio

“I wanted to wrap one material around the entire house—as sort of an architectural lingerie,” explains Matthew Trzebiatowski, about the rusted wire mesh and corrugated steel swathing the exterior of his Xeros Residence in Phoenix, Arizona. In designing under the name the one-bedroom, 2,200-square-foot home for his wife, Lisa, and himself, Trzebiatowski, seized on a lacy, if gritty, mesh to enclose open sitting areas and screen the glazed walls…. “The impulse was primarily aesthetic,” Trzebiatowski says, noting, however, that the wire mesh both cuts the sun’s glare and affords privacy, while the corrugated steel – with insulation, affords warmth when temperatures drop.

Xeros Residence, Phoenix, Arizona, USA by Matthew Trzebiatowski, at Blank Studio.
More here: dwell

Hoover House by [merz]project

Located in the heart of the historic neighborhoods of downtown Phoenix, this residential remodel and addition demonstrated a common predicament within historic district neighborhoods, which have become ideal locations to live; however, the home sizes are not conducive to modern family requirements and amenities. The clients expressed a desire to remain in their current home but required a dramatic increase in living space. With this in mind, [merz]project developed a new 1400 square foot addition that creates a dialogue with the existing house through experiences of thresholds, courtyards, and manipulation of light. By utilizing similar structural systems and proportions, but clearly different materials, the resulting zinc-clad structure possesses a pre-patina’ that provides an aged appearance that contrasts with the older structure.

Hoover House, Phoenix Arizona, USA by [merz]project
More at dwell

Hollywood Hills Home by XTEN Architecture

The Openhouse is embedded into a narrow and sharply sloping property in the Hollywood Hills, a challenging site that led to the creation of a house that is both integrated into the landscape and open to the city below. Retaining walls are configured to extend the first floor living level into the hillside and to create gardens on two levels. The front, side and rear elevations of the house slide open to erase all boundaries between indoors and out, connecting the spaces to gardens on both levels.

Openhouse, Hollywood Hills, California, USA, by XTEN Architecture
via: Arch Daily

Kunsthaus Graz Austria by Peter Cook and Colin Fournier

On the banks of the river Mur, on the corner of the Südtirolerplatz and the Lendkai. Graz has a new architectural landmark, an extraordinary exhibition hall designed by Peter Cook and Colin Fournier. Kunsthaus Graz, better known as the “friendly alien”, is meant to inspire its curators with an interior as a “black box of hidden tricks”, its outer skin is a media facade which can be changed electronically.

Kunsthaus Graz, by Peter Cook and Colin Fournier.

Single Hauz Concept by Front Architects

We have the perfect spot to erect this tiny house. The concept is from the Polish architectual company Front Architects. The design was inspired by highway billboards. The house is very small at only 27 square meters, but perfect for that weekend get-away.

Single Hauz Concept, by Front Architects

Gardiner Museum by KPMB Architects

The Gardiner Museum is one of the world’s pre-eminent institutions devoted to ceramic art, and the only museum of its kind in Canada. It is also one of the major projects in Toronto’s cultural renaissance. The Gardiner renewal, together with the Royal Ontario Museum across the street and the Royal Conservatory of Music around the corner on Bloor Street West, will form a new cultural precinct for the city.
Framed between the neoclassical Lillian Massey building to the north and the Queen Anne-style Margaret Addison Hall to the south, the renewal creates a bolder, more welcoming urban presence for the Gardiner. Inside, the interior is completely transformed to prioritize the display of the museum’s collections and to create a memorable, inviting visitor experience.

Gardiner Museumner, Toronto, Canada, by KPMB Architects
via: Arch Daily

Tama Art University Library by Toyo Ito

This is a library for an art university located in the suburbs of Tokyo. Passing through the main entrance gate, the site lies behind a front garden with small and large trees, and stretches up a gentle slope.
“The characteristic arches are made out of steel plates covered with concrete. In plan these arches are arranged along curved lines which cross at several points. With these intersections, we were able to keep the arches extremely slender at the bottom and still support the heavy live loads of the floor above.”
- Toyo Ito

Tama Art University Library, Tokyo, Japan by Toyo Ito
Photos by Iwan Baan for Domus Magazine “The spider’s web – Subtle veils of concrete in the library of the Tama Art University”

Maison Biscuit by Pierre Minassia

Made of untreated concrete and glass, this house is defined by the screen of cut-out wood elements hung like a curtain on the outside of the glass.

Maison Biscuit, Lyon, France, by Pierre Minassia, AUM
via: Below the Clouds

Mexico City Apartments by Dellekamp and Juan Pablo Maza

This building in Mexico has 3 apartments looking onto the street as well as a two story house in the back that looks into an interior patio. The space is defined by the windows and the interaction of the span of concrete slab.

CB 30 Apartments, Colonia Polanco, Mexico DF, Mexico, by Dellekamp arquitectos + Juan Pablo Maza
via: Arch Daily