Wine Cellar by Simon Astridge Architecture Workshop

Simon Astridge Architecture Workshop was approached by a high end kitchen specialist to create a new wine tasting concept and experience in the basement of their new showroom refurbishment. They answered the brief by creating a wine cave clad entirely in matt black concrete panels. The concrete panels absorb the majority of natural light and create low levels of illumination that give maximum atmosphere for the wine tasting experience. A spiral wine cellar was added into the basement with an opening glazed lid capable of storing 2800 bottles of wine. All metalwork for the project, including staircase, handrails and wine cages were designed by SAAW.

Wine Cellar, London, United Kingdom, by Simon Astridge Architecture Workshop
Photography by Nicholas Worley

Tropical Beach House by Renato D’Ettorre Architects

A small one bedroom beach house. The primary design elements are shutters made out of low-maintenance native hardwoods that will age and eventually blend in with the surrounding tropical landscape.

Tropical Beach House, Far North Queensland, Australia, by Renato D’Ettorre Architects
Photography by Willem Rethmeier

Platypus by Robinson Architects

Platypus House, Noosa Hinterland, by Robinson Architects

www by viktormatic

A shelf with a digital angle. the surfaces of this object dissolve into strings which connect and transform into other new surfaces.

www, by viktormatic

Azuris by Renato D’Ettorre Architects

The design of the house responds to its spectacular location near the edge of the ocean and its site falling steeply away towards the water’s edge on hamilton island. Simple, clean spaces are carved out of robust masonry, ensuring longevity and low future maintenance in the sub-tropical climate. The design philosophy is based upon the emphasis on the eternal elements of sun, sea and air in combination with the materials’ textural quality and honesty which makes the house invisible from the surrounds. Internal spaces wrap themselves around water and courtyards, capturing not only ocean views but also inward looking private vistas.

Azuris, Hamilton Island, Australia, by Renato D’Ettorre Architects

Seascape Retreat by Pattersons Associates Architects

A romantic beachside cottage is set into a rock escarpment in a tiny boulder strewn South Pacific cove. It is a shelter designed as a honeymoon retreat for paying guests consisting of just three rooms, a lobby, living/sleeping and a bathroom. This retreat is built using all local materials and is constructed largely from rock quarried near its site with in-situ poured concrete floors and an earth turfed roof. The structure is integrated into the escarpment above to protect occupants from falling debris. The cottage is self-sustainable in respect to on-site water harvesting and wastewater treatment. The project incorporated an extensive reforestation and re-vegetation sub project.
Its plan is an interlocking geometry responding to both near views of the Bay and far views out to Rocky Spires. It is lined with horizontal macrocarpa wood. This timber forms integrated joinery, wall and ceiling panels behind double glazed low e-glass in storm and shatter proof steel mullions which utilise earthquake resistant sliding heads.

Seascape Retreat, Banks Peninsula, New Zealand, by Pattersons Associates Architects
Photography by Simon Devitt

Distance(s) by Pedro Léger Pereira

Exhibition: distance(s), Lisboa, Portugal, by Pedro Léger Pereira

Cliff House by Mackay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects

This project is the first of a series of projects for a large 455 acre site on Nova Scotia’s Atlantic coast. This pure box in the landscape is precariously perched off a bedrock cliff to heighten one’s experience of the landscape through a sense of vertigo and a sense of floating on the sea. This strategy features the building’s fifth elevation – its ‘belly’.

This modest 960 square foot cabin functions as a rustic retreat. Its main level (16×44) contains a great room with a north cabinet wall, along with a service core. The open loft (16×16) is a sleeping perch. A large south-facing deck allows the interior stage to flow outward through the large windows.

This is a modest, affordable cabin that is intended as a repeatable prototype. A large, galvanized, steel superstructure anchors it to the cliff. A light steel endoskeleton forms the primary structure expressed on the interior. The envelope is a simple flat form framed box, which is clad in cedar shiplap.

Cliff House, Nova Scotia, Canada, by Mackay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects
Photography by Greg Richardson

Holyport Berkshire by Foggo & Thomas

This single-storey house, located on a small private estate in the heart of the sought-after Berkshire village of Holyport, is one of a group of three of the most notable 20th century architect-designed residences in the UK. Originally designed in the early 1960s by Peter Foggo and David Thomas, the house is of steel frame construction with the structure clearly expressed both inside and out. Standing on eight pilotis almost one metre above the grounds, the strong horizontal planes of floor and roof-line are emphasised by the exceptional transparency of the elevations, a result of the remarkable 60%-40% glass to wall ratio.

The house has undergone an extensive programme of restoration and extension since being purchased by the current owners in 2009. Great care has been taken to preserve the integrity and forward thinking nature of the original, influential design whilst also significantly improving the energy efficiency of the building. A deliberately disciplined palette of materials – restricted to granite, maple, linoleum, stainless steel, western red cedar and painted plaster- has been employed both internally and externally.

Holyport Berkshire, by Foggo & Thomas, at The Modern House

Henbest House by ras-a

Located in Rancho Palos Verdes, an affluent suburb of Los Angeles known for it’s expansive views of the pacific ocean, the Henbest House is a rejuvenation of a California classic. The existing structure was built in 1966 and originally designed by the iconic mid-century modern Architect Pierre Koenig, who is most notable for his case study houses.

The new design upgrades the building envelope, MEPs, updates finishes and gently renovates and expands the floor plan to accommodate the current owners program, while paying special attention to respect the homes architectural roots.

Originally one arrived at the interior of the house via an exterior walkway which circumnavigated a courtyard. The entry path was flanked on either side by a 10′ tall wall, physically separating it from the courtyard. The new design removes this separation and incorporates the courtyard into the entry sequence. A dilapidated perimeter wall is repaired and surfaced with ipe wood siding which meets the areas current fire code. A new board formed concrete wall is offset from the ipe wall, creating a layered opening into the courtyard. A new swimming pool which was inspired by Koenig’s original site plan, but never realized replaces a koi pond and pergola that were added later and not part of Pierre’s design. The swimming pool overflows into a shallow reflecting pool which serves as a moat for the entry path that leads to the interior.

Walls are removed to provide greater views throughout the house towards the Pacific Ocean. A compartmentalized kitchen and service core are gutted to create an open kitchen / dining / living space. The master suite is expanded, replacing a small enclosed patio for livable square footage. A new guest wing is added, connecting the once detached garage to the main house. All of the fenestration is upgraded to meet current standards including new, fully retractable multi-panel sliding glass walls. When completely open the house becomes a pavilion, truly blurring the indoor / outdoor boundary that exemplifies California modern.

Henbest House, by ras-a, inc.
Photography by Chang Kyun Kim