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MeyerHouse by WOHA: Louvres as design motif

Louvres are a time-honoured element of architecture in the tropics, performing several functions related to light and optics. They filter out sun glare while allowing in natural daylight to reduce a space’s cooling load, and could allow cross-ventilation through the breathable gaps. Depending on their angle, louvres can also shield the interior against outside eyes. […]

‘Everything Anywhere’ Echo: TU Delft’s adaptable, positive energy building

As one of the world’s foremost engineering institutions, the Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) has set goals to be fully sustainable by 2030. To accelerate this goal, a new inter-faculty building called Echo is set to harvest more energy than it consumes, and fulfil circularity principles. The design arose from an ever-increasing demand for […]

JINS PARK Maebashi: A fresh vision for suburban retail

In an era when online shopping is increasingly common, this eyewear store in Maebashi City, Gunma Prefecture rethinks the retail experience to offer something more than a usual commercial space. The nature of suburban shops is to be visited via car by customers with a particular goal in mind, as opposed to downtown retail where […]

Alchemy Yoga Center: Balancing artistry and technique

Bali-based practice IBUKU, known for their specialty in designing bamboo buildings, has created an open-air studio with an undulating copper dome called Alchemy Yoga Center. While the design process for most of their bamboo projects were driven by physical models, this building also involved structural analysis software. “This was the first time we designed a […]

The Nest: Supporting neighbourhood spaces with mental healthcare tech

City life is often described as stressful. Cities are associated with 39 per cent higher risk of depression, 21 per cent more anxiety and other negative effects from sensory overload and low social cohesion.1 In the bustling, fast-moving city-state of Singapore, almost ten per cent of its its 5.6 million population met the criteria for […]

CH House: A ‘tube house’ to work, live and gather in

This project is a ‘tube house’—an extremely narrow, elongated dwelling going up several storeys above ground—typical of dwellings in Hanoi City, the capital of Vietnam. It faces all of the problems brought about by the density of the city: spanning only 4.2 metres in width and 35 metres in length, while being tightly sandwiched between […]

A ‘citizen co-creation’ model for Uchisaiwaicho 1-Chome District Development

Located in the heart of Tokyo, the Uchisaiwaicho 1-Chome district is seen as a significant area of the city, one that provides key infrastructural services and is home to a hotel seen as the nation’s state guesthouse. Plans for its development have been underway since 2011 when the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Chiyoda City and the […]

The art of putting together idle objects in Tekuni Dua

How many worn-out objects—antiques, odds and ends of broken items—are sitting idle in one’s storeroom, neither used nor thrown away? What if they could be assembled in new and artful ways? This is the mission behind Tekuni Dua, a three-storey rentable apartment in Kuta, Bali, where roughly 90 per cent of the finishes use recycled […]

A showcase of creative frugality: Hippo Farm Bioclimatic Dormitories

Located about 30 kilometres away from Ho Chi Minh City, Hippo Farm’s dormitories are an expansion of a three-hectare permaculture farm geared towards children and families. It is akin to a summer camp where the visitors can enjoy activities such as horse riding, farming and gardening, learning first-hand about Nature and sustainable practices. According to […]

Google Bay View: A new step in reaching the mega-company’s carbon goals

In 2020, Google announced that it aims to power all of its operations—data centres and offices, every hour of every day—using solely carbon-free electricity by the year 2030.1 This commitment requires going beyond the practice of offsetting carbon emissions and instead investing in Green systems for the company’s numerous facilities (reported to be over 70 […]

Joined at the ‘wing’: Smoothly merging a box and an A-frame

The Wing, a two-storey private residence and rentable villa, is located among neighbouring paddy fields in Bali. In the tropical climate, there is abundant sunlight that can be used to light up the interior spaces. At the same time, the sun’s heat cannot excessively permeate into the rooms. This is why the local vernacular architecture […]

Avenue South Residence: World’s tallest PPVC residential building

Among the challenges faced by Singapore’s architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry are its limited land and shortage of manpower. To optimise resources—as well as to reach carbon targets—there is a need to expedite construction times, streamline the work, reduce waste and minimise construction-related disruption in the city. A solution is to adopt the Design […]

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