A small group of diverse students participating in the inaugural AA Visiting School Eugene were given the responsibility to design and build something that would enhance and reflect the forest, within a ten-day timeframe.
More on the Camera Obscura after the break.
One of the most prominent aspects of a design, if not the most important, is the consideration of the context and environment in which the proposed design will be found. In the case of the Dutch House by Rem Koolhaas, the unique and very challenging environmental conditions and topography of the site led to a design with interesting conditions that respond to these conditions.
More on the Dutch House in The Netherlands after the break.
An inspiration to all, the College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture at the University of Minnesota stands as an intriguing building that glows during the late-night working hours of its inhabitants. Completed by Steven Holl Architects in 2002, the building has received much recognition for it’s enlightening and unifying qualities, an example being the Progressive Architecture Award in 1990.
More on the College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture and Steven Holl Architects after the break.
“In order to design buildings with a sensuous connection to life, one must think in a way that goes far beyond form and construction.” This quote from Peter Zumthor rings true in his design of Bruder Klaus Field Chapel, where a mystical and thought-proving interior is masked by a very rigid rectangular exterior.
More on Bruder Klaus Field Chapel and Peter Zumthor after the break.
Radical among the architects of today, Jean Nouvel continually amazes practicing architects and unstudied passerby alike with his brilliant manipulation of form, patterns, materials and colors. Currently discussed for his vibrant Serpentine Gallery Pavilion in London and the recently built luxurious Chelsea apartments in New York, Nouvel has a history of creating the most striking and innovative buildings.
One of his earlier buildings, the Fondation Cartier in Paris 1994, employs the same dedication to transparency and rigor of the surface as the more recently designed structures of Nouvel. As a public space that houses contemporary art and graffiti exhibitions, the play between inside and out is very fitting as it creates an openness which invites people to experience the building from both up close and afar.
More on the Fondation Cartier after the break.
