As of 2021, China’s countryside houses about 36 per cent of its population. The process of rural-urban migration as a result of economic reform since the late 1970s has seen a drastic decline of the agricultural livelihood that once fostered Chinese civilisation. While urbanisation has brought vast wealth to the country and lifted millions out […]
Read More… from Reimagining Heritage: Architectural Regeneration in Rural China
The Chinese province of Guizhou is known for its scenic landscapes and diverse ethnic cultures. While relatively underdeveloped, the region’s mountainous terrains contain numerous settlements with distinct characters. For a period of seven years, Shancun Atelier—a team led by professors from Tsinghua University—collaborated with the local Anshun Design Institute to regenerate a rural setting that […]
This villa in Gurugram reimagined zoning regulations to become an open green space for a garden. In the area that is rapidly densifying into mid-rise apartment blocks, land parcels of 500 square metres must follow a 4-metre setback to both the front and rear of buildings, further limited with a 7×3-metre linear open space against […]
In the northern mountainous provinces of Vietnam, there is a type of vernacular house called the Trinh Tuong, standing for over 100 years with rammed earth walls (a technique now known as pisé). Such walls are completely handmade by compressing earth into even and flat cubes, which allows houses to be constructed without steel reinforcement. […]
The name of this house refers to the majestic Pongour Falls in Vietnam, a naturally stepped waterfall with terraced cliffs, interspersed by a landscape of wild-growing shrubs and trees. During dry seasons, visitors can climb up the cliffs to marvel at its rocky expanse. “If Pongour represents a natural landscape that looks like an artificial […]
Read More… from The Falls by Akitephile: Recreating a natural marvel
This home for a young family of four exemplifies how “basic is best”, focusing on necessities when faced with constraints. Designed with a limited budget, and constructed remotely during the pandemic with local builders, the architects concentrated on key elements of residential buildings. “The basics are the organisation of daylight, natural ventilation, and creating functional […]
Read More… from Multi-functional basics: Binh Thuan House by MIA Design Studio
How does the architect balance their larger ecological/social responsibilities as stewards of the built environment with the client’s personal goals? This question is especially interesting in the context of private residential houses, because architects and owners have a more direct working relationship for such projects—no layers of bureaucracy or multiple stakeholders to deal with—and hence […]
RELATED: Private Houses, Public Good? An Architect’s Perspective Placed on a site wedged between a residential neighbourhood of an informal building fabric and a public beach used by fishermen from the same community, this building design attempts to morph socio-physical pressures from both sides: i.e., the fragmented spatial sprawl and the culture of everyday constructions […]
The architecture of Veil House seeks to have a larger social impact or, at least, the ambition to provide an alternative to closed-off gated developments. Ayutt and Associates design, the architects behind Veil House, revealed that the house was “designed not as a unicentric project that adds little value to the community, [but rather] a […]
It is already common for the single-house residential prototype to be sensitive to local climate and site in their designs, deploying suitably eco-friendly strategies that make sense to do so. For instance, the Tropical Chalet in Da Nang, Vietnam, is defined by its porous design—in form, massing and use of local bricks—that brings in the […]
Read More… from Status Quo: Tropical Chalet & The Terrace Mansion
In line with our ongoing design competition FuturArc Prize (FAP) 2023: Cross-Generational Architecture, we are highlighting projects along the theme for your inspiration. Click here to learn more about the brief! The hilly city of Rennes in France is known for its universities. Students and young adults make up a majority of its population—60 per […]
Read More… from Ascension Paysagère: Housing for a variety of income levels
This small two-storey, wood-frame house is tucked into a downtown residential neighbourhood in Shinagawa, Tokyo. The clients—a couple with minimalist taste and few superfluous possessions—wanted a private home on the compact lot, one that prioritised a spacious atmosphere over rooms that were physically large. The lot abuts the north side of a narrow road and […]
