With Casa Encinos, Architect Lilian Rebollo from the APT arquitectura para todos studio has created a small architectural gem that respects the breathtaking natural context of the Santo Domingo Ocotitlán village situated in the El Tepozteco National Park, in Mexico. The use of local materials, techniques and labour makes the project particularly sustainable.
In their transformation of the old outdoor cinema in the Czech town of Prachatice, Mimosa Architects drew their inspiration from the imagery of film, with its reels and projectors. The complex now has a new face, offering a new attraction for summer evenings with a special focus on urban greenery and maintaining all the charm of its past.
Peruvian architect Marina Vella has designed Casa Entrecopas, a home that draws both inspiration and materiality from its location: the interior of a large historical farm located North of Lima, in Peru. Thanks to the construction techniques and to the local materials used, the result is an architecture that is intrinsically sustainable and in close harmony with the idyllic surrounding landscape.
Anandaloy, the project in Bangladesh by the German architect Anna Heringer, is a building made of mud and bamboo. The multifunctional building hosts a therapy centre for people with disabilities and a fair-trade textile manufacturing workshop producing fashion and art, and it is this year’s winner of the Obel Award, a new, international prize for architectural achievement presented by the Henrik Frode Obel Foundation.
Czech architectural practice OV-A has designed a transparent walkway connecting two historic buildings and giving Prague’s University of Chemistry and Technology (UCT) a new symbol. A contemporary design with a shape that speaks to the world of chemistry sets up an elegant connection with the old buildings.
The new ski school in Tarvisio, designed by the Architetto Beltrame Claudio firm of architects, challenges traditional alpine architectural assumptions and reinterprets the classic chalet. The result is a small landmark that plays on the material nature and symbolism of wood as well as on the dynamics of skiing itself.
The US firm Faulkner Architects was commissioned to refurbish and convert a small barn in California. A very delicate project that harnessed the energy of the structure and even retained the smell of the old Douglas Fir commonly used in rural architecture and salvaged from the original construction.
With Aldo Beach House, the American architecture studio Wittman Estes has revamped an existing structure from the 1940s. The new-look beach house is now a multi-generational home in the stunning natural environment of Hood Canal, Washington.
The young Czech architectural studio, ValArch Ateliér, has built a rural house that combines respect for the context with the use of local raw materials. Chestnut House is a welcoming sanctuary in an area of great scenic beauty.
Floornature is an international design and architecture portal with a focus on contemporary architecture, exclusive interviews with great masters of international architecture and the most interesting new developments in the world of architecture.