Cantilever

The clients were looking for a house that would eventually become their fulltime residence but could also serve as a getaway, vacation and gathering place in the interim. Steve Keating Photography Located at the south end of Desolation Sound on Cortes Island, British Columbia, the site is formed of natural granite bedrock and contains a dramatic peninsula and cliff which serve as a windbreak for Cortes Bay as well as the Seattle and Vancouver yacht clubs. To the south, the house is exposed to the Straight of Georgia which delivers extremely high wind speeds and salt spray during winter storms. To withstand the high winds, the house structure is embedded into the bedrock with steel columns and exposed wood floor beams allowing the hous... More

With a compact form and several integrated sustainable systems, the Capitol Hill Residence achieves the client’s goals to maximize the site’s views and resources while responding to its micro climate. Some of the sustainable systems are architectural in nature. For example, the roof rainwater collects into a steel entry water feature, day light from a typical overcast Seattle sky penetrates deep into the house through a central translucent slot, and exterior mounted mechanical shades prevent excessive heat gain without sacrificing the view. Hidden systems affect the energy consumption of the house such as the buried geothermal wells and heat pumps that aid in both heating and cooling, and a 30 panel photovoltaic system mounted o... More

High on a wooded hilltop above a lake in Michigan, the TowerHouse is the result of an inspiring collaboration betweenBalance Associates, clients with a passion for architecture aswell as their site, and a skilled local contractor.Directed to create “a sustainable retreat that refl ects thetimeless beauty and simple comforts of the area,” thearchitects responded by raising the primary living spaceabove the dense surrounding woods in order to gain light,air and views of Glen Lake and Lake Michigan beyond. Twofi n-like, metal-clad walls rise from the crown of the hill tosupport a 1400 sf three-story plywood box suspended a fullstory above grade. Steve Keating As intricately detailed steel stairs climb the tower, theymove from... More

Selected in a private-sector competition, the project involved the renovation, extension and construction of the new façade for the historical hotel building, along with three new chalets, conceived as a single large-scale ensemble in the midst of the countryside. As a new layer overlapped with an existing structure that has already developed multiple strata over the years, the project aimed to re-establish a unified appearance, conversing freely with the surrounding landscape and the three chalets in the woods. gustav willeit Inspired by a fragment from the wooden frame of the farm’s old barn, the new façade redefines the silhouette of the principal corpus and provides support for the new balconies, like a large s... More

South London based architects Proctor & Shaw have completed the full interior renovation of an apartment in a period block in Marylebone, London. The challenging brief required re-configuring the inefficient existing one bedroom, one bathroom layout to incorporate two double bedrooms each with ensuite facilities, along with a generous open plan kitchen, dining, and living space. Ståle Eriksen “The top floor of the existing building had been rebuilt following bomb damage during the war”, explained architect Mike Shaw, “which meant the existing spanning concrete structure allowed a complete reconfiguration of the non-load-bearing internal walls to suit the client’s aspirations for the space.” The... More

The proposed site is located within the newly designed masterplan of Rublyevo-Archangelskoe, a territory which occupies 461ha to the west of Moscow. It is a large-scale LEED ND certified project, with aspirations becoming a sustainable, high-tech and harmonious live-work city for business and families. Located on the greenbelt, adjacent to the Moskva river, it is an attractive location less than hour away from the city of Moscow.    The 640 residential unit building complex is comprised of a singular universal block, interconnected on two levels. It thereby suggests a permeable, notional, perimeter block. Each block is connected to the other as a bridge, which also produces a roof terrace on the free, upper surface of the block... More

Once occupied by a public bath in Beijing, the site’s spirit of bathing lives on in the building’s new incarnation. The Emperor Hotel Qianmen, designed by ASAP/Adam Sokol Architecture Practice, offers a water-infused environment to create an unexpected and calming sensation for guests. The 80,000-square-foot hotel features a cantilevered rooftop pool, 49-foot-high interior rainfall, drip-down threaded floating plants, and underground waterfall and pool. The 65 guest rooms offer four sensuous experiences to provide a peaceful respite from the bustling energy of the city. The lower-level L’Occitane Spa affords guests a sanctuary for relaxation, while the rooftop hotel bar—one of the largest in Beiji... More

The unique site of the house on a steep slope on the outskirts of Vienna captivates with a fantastic panoramic view over vineyards and local mountains to the Danube. With this in mind, we and the client pursued the goal of bringing this scenery into the house and making it a tangible experience.  Marc Lins Marc Lins Marc Lins A 36-meter-long glazed beam with an external graphite-grey steel structure floats 12 meters above the massive base, cantilevering freely. On the street side, the garage with storage and technical rooms is pushed into the slope. A staircase and an elevator provide access to the three floors. Taking the stairs, the wide overhang of the upper floor forms an inviting, covered entrance area that can als... More

A monolithic residence has been built for a young family in a village close to Vienna. On an exposed hillside plot the residential building is positioned as a solitaire. The sculptural object is surrounded by a generous garden designed by the owners gardening company. The spacious garden merges into the surrounding fields and the natural site. The idea was to generate a seem less perception of the building and the garden area. The garden is part of the living room. The main body of the building consists of two mutually shifted elements which follow the slope from north and south. By the horizontal displacement a high air space, forming the entrance and the central opening, is produced between the elements. The building consists of a baseme... More

The project is located in Kampala, the capital of Uganda, an east African country. We were asked to design a ground+1 floor villa on a land area of approximately 1000 square meters.While designing the villa, the car parking area was created at the corner by taking the vehicle entrance from the corner on the road front in order to maximize the front yard. According to this corner parking area, the entrance facade of the building was designed with 4 units as 1.5-meter following the masses each others.These 4-unit masses, which have a fragmented architecture on the entrance facade, are connected to each other by the ceiling slab canopy of the mass, providing architectural integrity in 4 mass spaces.In the facade on the garden side, the eaves o... More

The steeply sloping site for this 7000sf house, orientated approximately east-west, falls by 11.5m from the road to the rear with rainforest views to the east of this 7000sf house. The house is designed to ‘float’ over the site – touching it lightly, and allowing the natural slope to remain, heightening our awareness to & informing us about the natural site contours.   Consisting 2 independent structures – a 2 storey living & bedroom block constructed of exposed structural steel supported on a ‘forest’ of irregular spaced columns that enhance the feeling of ‘floating’. This steel structure is cantilevered over a lower independent structure housing an art gallery & cinema and... More