Towada Art Center by Ryue Nishizawa

Towada Art Center is the centerpiece of the Towada Arts Project, an initiative to convert the main road through the city into a dynamic art space in order to emphasize the rich cultural history of the city.

Towada Art Center, Towada, Japan, by Ryue Nishizawa
Photography by Iwan Baan

Dupli.Casa by Jürgen Mayer H.

The geometry of the building is based on the footprint of the house that previously was located on the site, originally built in 1984 and with many extensions and modifications since then. The new building echoes the “family archeology” by duplication and rotation. Lifted up, it creates a semi-public space on ground level between two layers of discretion.

Dupli.Casa by Jürgen Mayer H
via: Archinect

Johanna House by Nicholas Burns Associates

The Johanna House is made of concrete, glass and steel on a secluded 100 acres of pristine bush land adjoining a national park with extensive views of the ocean; a protected wilderness area with endangered flora and fauna. No trees were cleared for this project.
Discretly inserted into the landscape, the 4 bedroom house, is a journey of gradual and layered concealment and opening of the landscape and ocean; contrasting contraction and expansion, heavy and light, opaque and transparent. Pure geometry and detailing to create a stillness, a dematerialising interconnection with nature, landscape and the passing of time, place and present.

Johanna House, Victoria, Australia, by Nicholas Burns Associates

House D by Bevk Perović Arhitekti

House D, Rožna dolina, Ljubljana, Slovenia, by Matija Bevk, Vasa Perović, Uršula Oitzl, for Bevk Perović Arhitekti

The New Museum, New York by SANAA

The New Museum, designed by Tokyo-based architects Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of SANAA is the first art museum ever constructed from the ground up in downtown Manhattan.
Sejima and Nishizawa, who received the commission in 2002, have described the building as their response to the history and powerful personalities of both the New Museum and its storied site. “The Bowery was very gritty when we first visited it,” they have said. “We were a bit shocked, but we were also impressed that a contemporary art museum wanted to be there.”
“In the end, the Bowery and the New Museum have a lot in common. Both have a history of being very accepting, open, embracing of every idiosyncrasy in an unprejudiced manner. When we learned about the history of the New Museum we were flabbergasted by its attitude, which is very political, fearless, and very tough. The New Museum is a combination of elegant and urban. We were determined to make a building that felt like that.”

The New Museum, New York, USA, by Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, for, SANAA
Photography by Iwan Baan for Domus

Books:

Shift: SANAA and the New Museum
Edited by Joseph Grima, Lisa Phillips and Karen Wong
The highly anticipated catalog dedicated to the New Museum’s stunning new building is here! The first museum to be developed from the ground up in Lower Manhattan. Finalized only after the building was complete, the essays, images, and architectural renderings contained within this book allow for a unique and thorough insight into the numerous stages of the institution’s transformation into a landmark destination.
Softcover; 136 pp; 200 color images, architectural renderings.
Buy it Here: Amazon

Bridge House by Stanley Saitowitz Natoma Architects

The site is on 15 acres of wooded grassland with a ravine. The architects decided to place the house spanning the ravine creating a bridge on the landscape. Continuous glass walls look south towards the landscape.

Bridge House, Marin, California, USA by Stanley Saitowitz Natoma Architects

More Images Emerge of House “O” by Sou Fujimoto

We wrote before about this rocky coast house in Japan designed by Sou (Sosuke) Fujimoto. New images from a magazine feature round out the sense of space in this dramatic concrete and glass house.

House “O”, by Sou Fujimoto Architects
via: What We Do is Secret

Private House SB in Slovenia

House SB, Pot v Smrečje 28a, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia, by Matija Bevk, Vasa Perović, for Bevk Perović Arhitekti

Waterfront Living at Nurai Resort Abu Dhabi

Under Construction: these residential villas for Nurai, a resort on a natural island off the coast of Abu Dhabi, have been designed by New York-based design Studio Dror. Nurai is a 130,000 square metre island located northeast of Abu Dhabi city centre, near the northernmost tip of Saadiyat Island. SHVO is handling sales and marketing.

Nurai, Abu Dhabi, by Studio Dror

Copenhagen’s Little Mermaid to Move to China for Expo 2010

BIG’s latest project is the Danish Pavilion for Expo 2010 in Shanghai. The exhibition takes the best of living in Copenhagen and placing it in China for visitors to experience. This includes the The Little Mermaid as the center piece, a statue that has become a symbol for Denmark, this time, it will be moved temporarily to China.
“it is considerably more resource efficient moving The Little Mermaid to China, than moving 1.3 billion Chinese to Copenhagen”
- Bjarke Ingels, founder of BIG

Denmark Pavillion for Shanghai Expo 2010, by BIG, in collaboration with Arup and 2+1
via: Arch Daily