Vitrahaus by Herzog & de Meuron

The newly completed Vitrahaus by Herzog & de Meuron on the Vitra Campus in Weil am Rhein, Germany – just outside of Basel, Switzerland.

[images by Iwan Baan courtesy of Vitra]

Lien Residence by Ministry of Design

Singapore studio Ministry of Design have completed a single-storey house that zig-zags across its triangular site in Singapore.

Called Lien Residence, the house twists to avoid an existing tree, creating courtyard spaces that are sheltered from the weather but admit light and breezes to the interior and basement level.

The building is split into three sections: an entertainment zone, a family zone and a private master zone.

The house also features a diagonally-patterned planted roof.

More stories about Ministry of Design on Dezeen:

Face to Face (January 2010)
Leo Burnett Office (October 2009)

Photographs are by Edward Hendricks and Patrick Bingham-Hall.

Here is some more information from Ministry of Design:

–

Lien Residence by Ministry of Design

Architecture (with PAA) + Interior Architecture 600 sq m Singapore 2009. Built

Returning to the romance of the single-storey bungalow house, this zig-zag house acquires its unique form via a series of formal maneuvers around a mature tree located on its long and triangulated sliver of land.

Tropically acclimated to the region, the building’s twisting form creates “in-between” spaces which provide shelter from nature’s harsh elements and simultaneously allow for cross ventilation and filtered light. Courtyards, captured by the turning of the twisted building form, bring light into the basement service areas.

Internal corridors serve as breezeways between air-conditioned and naturally cooled areas.

Slightly lofted over the ground, each of the building’s three Miesian inspired wings house an entertainment zone, a family zone and a private master zone.

Seen as a seamless singular form, the building reads as both sheltering building as well as abstracted sculpture.

F-White by Takuro Yamamoto

The angle of the courtyard divides the surrounding space into smaller rooms.

Here is some more information provided by Takuro Yamamoto:

–

F-WHITE is an independent one-storied house with a courtyard for a single family.

This house is located in suburb of Tokyo, and its neighborhood was developed 30 years ago. But no house had been built on this site, because the size of the site happened to be 1.5 times larger than typical size for suburban houses, though the width is not so big.

So this place had been unpopular, and used as a parking lot for a long time.

Though the site was unusual –larger than standard–, the budget for the house was usual. We had to find a way to make a good use of character of this site, with limited floor area.

Split Level House by Qb

Design studio Qb of Philadelphia have completed a house in Philadelphia that features a glazed interior wrapped in a curved brick facade.

Called Split level House, the three-storey residence is located on the corner of two streets and is elevated just above street level.

The interior features bleached and blackened oak, polished concrete and steel.

Infant Educational Centre Cullar Vega by Solinas + Verd Arquitectos

Photographer Roland Halbe has sent us these photos of a kindergarten in Granada, Spain, designed by Solinas + Verd Arquitectos of Seville.

Top and above images copyright Roland Halbe

Called Infant Educational Certre Cullar Vega, the concrete building was conceived as a permeable wall enclosing a garden.

Above image copyright Roland Halbe

Classrooms are positioned to receive the morning and evening sun.

House Equanimity by Joe Biondo

Here are some photos of a blue striped house in Northampton, USA, by Pennsylvanian architect Joe Biondo.

Called House Equanimity, the residence has a concrete base topped by a wooden frame and blue concrete panels, referencing the concrete industry local to the area.

Louvre Lens by SANAA

Construction work has started on Louvre-Lens, an outpost of the Paris Musée du Louvre located in Lens, northern France, designed by Japanese architects SANAA with American architects Imrey Culbert and French landscape architects Mosbach Paysagistes.

Centre of Pedagogic Multimedia Resources by Béal & Blanckaert

Photographer Julien Lanoo of France has sent us his photographs of a teaching resources centre in Paris by French architects Béal & Blanckaert.

Called Centre of Pedagogic Multimedia Resources, the project is situated between three existing university buildings and is clad in black zinc panels.

Faceted ceilings bounce slices of light around the interior of the sprawling, single-storey structure.

The neighboring piles of soil are leveled and put in geometrical forms in relation to the roof of the building.

With this roof, the façade, constituted of skins of black zinc, fold and unfold itself, translating the troubles that exist here between landscape and architecture.

Title: Centre of pedagogic multimedia resources
Principal: USTL – University of Lille I
Localization: Scientific quarter, Villeneuve d’Ascq

Competition: 2007, laureate project
Architects: Antoine Béal and Ludovic Blanckaert
Staff members: J. Ramet, E. Veauvy, T. Foucray, L. Zimny
Bet: HDM – Becquart
Program: Film and recording studio – offices
Area: 950m2 surface without net work
Cost of the works: 1 850 000 euro without taxes

Dominey Pavilion by Lightroom Studio

Architects Lightroom Studio of Georgia have completed an outdoor living room, built around a tree at a house in Atlanta, USA.

Called Dominey Pavilion, the wooden structure extends the existing house by adding a series of decks, rooms, screens, a garage and a driveway.

Central to the pavilion is a fireplace with seating, forming a living room that’s open on three sides.

Here is some more information from the architects:

–

The Dominey Pavilion consists of a carport, driveway, exterior deck, outdoor living room, and garden.

The clients are proponents of the Case Study House program of the 1940s and like the work of Alvar Aalto, Richard Neutra, and Donald Judd, thus influencing the design.

The project blurs the boundaries between Minimalist Sculpture, Architecture, and Landscape through features like the outdoor fireplace and the planar language that defines the outdoor rooms.

Abstract references to the southern vernacular of shotgun shacks and dogtrot houses are other influences to the design. The carport and pavilion reference dogtrot houses allowing southeast breezes to flow through.

The Semperian fireplace creates a cross reference to the burnt-out houses of the Georgia countryside and defines the outdoor living room. Careful arborist input was sought and implemented for the existing white oak tree, which pierces the the roof. Materials and construction decisions were made in compliance with LEED.

Materials: Georgia 4-inch tongue and groove cypress, hard coat stucco with galvanized bead edges, recycled concrete blocks, porous concrete slabs (to allows for root growth and water penetration, 4-inch recessed halogen lighting.