Imploding the Pruitt-Igoe Myth

Source: construction.com

A new documentary attempts to alter how we look at St. Louis's infamous public housing project.

Accepted wisdom will have us believe St. Louis' infamous Pruitt-Igoe public housing development was destined for failure. Designed by George Hellmuth and World Trade Center architect Minoru Yamasaki (of Leinweber, Yamasaki & Hellmuth), the 33-building complex opened in 1954, its Modernist towers touted as a remedy to overcrowding in the city’s tenements. Rising crime, neglected facilities, and fleeing tenants led to its demolition—in a spectacular series of implosions—less than two decades later. In the popular narrative, bad public policy, bad architecture, and bad people doomed Pruitt-Igoe, and it became an emblem of failed social welfare projects across the country. But director Chad Freidrichs challenges that convenient and oversimplified assessment in his documentary The Pruitt-Igoe Myth... -- Architectural Record

Skin of Architecture: Pattern 7

Source: Stephane Chalmeau archdaily.com

Monconseil Retirement Home, Tours, France, 2010 designed by Atelier Zundel & Cristea

The facade is composed of prefabricated concrete, over which we applied a plant pattern, in order to produce a vibration in the surface. -- ArchDaily

Source: Francisco Nogueria archdaily.com

Rainha Santa Isabel Secondary School, Estremoz, Portugal, 2010 designed by Oficina Ideias em Linha

The premises were to provide new functional areas such as classrooms, convivial and management facilities supported by new technological means, attending to the possibilities given by the school’s original structure as well as an adequated urban insertion. -- ArchDaily

Source: Antonio Arévalo archdaily.com

Police Station of Manzanares, Antigua Carretera de Madrid, Manzanares, Spain, 2011 designed by Estudio Lamazeta

Located on the site of an old winery, the new Police Station of Manzanares is the result of an Architectural Competition initially announced for the construction of a Museum. When the construction was 80% completed, the Government decided to adapt the building to the current use. For the outside finishes of the building we have used a white ceramic tiling that combines pieces of different sizes and proportions. The patchwork designed disappear gradually in different parts of the facade where the texture and color used are slightly different. -- ArchDaily

Open Shoe Boxes

Source: Herzog & de Meuron

Ricola-Europe SA, Production and Storage Building, Mulhouse-Brunstatt, France, 1998 designed by Herzog & de Meuron

Both long walls are light walls providing the work area with constant, pleasantly filtered daylight. Light filtering occurs through printed translucent polycarbonate façade panels, a common industrial building material. Using silkscreen, these panels are printed with a repetitive plant motif based on photograph’s by Karl Blossfeldt.  -- architect's web site

Bure Military Training Base, Bure, Switzerland, 2009 designed by meier + associés architectes

The project is expressed through a pure abstract volume, comprising a partially buried reinforced concrete plinth on which stands, in a staggered position to the plinth, a ‘box’ wrapped in perforated metal, its cantilevered overhang forming the entrance. -- ArchDaily

Pedestrian Ways: Modern Pedestrian Bridges 4

Source: Pushak archdaily.com

Lillefjord Rest area & footbridge, Lillefjord, Finnmark, Norway, 2006 designed by Pushak

The new bridge was our proposal; it works as a sign towards the trail, while at the same time taking care of all the demanded functions. It is leading on to an older trail, crossing the soft, green carpet of vegetation in the midst of the river delta.  By placing all the program in the bridge, the road stop installation is now a distinct object placed in the landscape. This felt appropriate for the rough and grand nature of the site, rather than small furniture placed around or in the ground. -- ArchDaily

Source: Dag Jenssen archdaily.com

Høse Bridge, Suldal, Norway designed by Rintala Eggertsson Architects

The bridge connects the town to a vast wooden landscape which is used for recreation by the inhabitants of Sand. This new connection makes the area more accessible for the general public and allows people of all generations to use the area. The idea behind the chosen proposal was to establish a horizontal reference line in the landscape, to emphasize the undulant and organic shapes in the bedrock. -- ArchDaily

Source: archdaily.com

Heart of Love River, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, 2007 designed by Malone Chang Architects

By creating three bridges plus two lakes, this project defines cruise and pedestrian circulation, and various activities by multiple layers of sectional divisions. The boundaries of fields such as grass, water, and paving are implied by floating bridges and extending decks. The bridges form a fashionable urban catwalk, hovering the busy artery. Perforated metal cladding filters light from within, and renders the whole field a blurry and mysterious aura. -- ArchDaily

Source: Daylight archdaily.com

Knokke Footbridge, Knokke, Flanders, Belgium, 2007 designed by Ney & Partners

From a conceptual point of view, the bridge consists of welded bent steel plates of 12mm thickness, forming a structural “hammock” to which a concrete deck is tied. To resist shear forces, caused by the bent shape in plan, the sides of the plates are inclined at 45°, with respect to the central axis. -- ArchDaily

Source: Fernando Alda archdaily.com

Motril Footbridge, Motril, Granada, Spain, 2011 designed by Guijón Arquitectura

The structures have been used are organic hexagonal design which allows easy adaptation to the surrounding environment, from host in its structure existing trees and adapt on the slopes to facilitate pedestrian traffic, allowing the movement of persons with motor disabilities. -- ArchDaily

Source: Joseph Burns archdaily.com

Pennington Road Footbridge, Merseyside, UK, 2011 designed by Softroom

The overall bridge form follows a typology of traditional canal bridges, where a ramped side approach links to a simple spanning or shallow arched bridge structure.  Updated for current standards of accessibility, the steep ramp has been replaced with a more complex shallow inclined and stepped approach, and gently curving approaches have been cut into a newly formed hard landscape, much as paths wind their way up a hillside slope. -- ArchDaily

Source: architectmagazine.com

Peace Bridge, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, 2012 designed by Santiago Calatrava

Just 5.85 meters high and 8 meters wide, the compact, ruby-red helical bridge stretching across the Bow River stands out from the landscape as well as from Calatrava’s portfolio of soaring, white-concrete, cable-stayed bridges. Site constraints limited the design team to a 7-meter-tall envelope bounded by the river’s flood level below and the flight path for a nearby heliport above. Ecological concerns barred intermediate supports in the water, requiring a bridge type able to span the full 126 meters (413 feet). “A tube was a clear contender,” says Calatrava, the Switzerland-based founder of his eponymous firm, “but there was a danger of creating a tunnel-like bridge.” -- ARCHITECT

Source: Thomas Mayer archdaily.com

Wupper-Bridge Opladen, Opladen, Leverkusen, Germany, 2012 designed by Ağırbaş & Wienstroer

The planners put the green color of nature against the Red of the weather-resistant steel in the massive body of the bridge on both sides of the river.  It is a game of heaviness and lightness, a dialogue of light and dark, thick and thin, of large and small. The static height of this bar is ideal for sitting on it. Thus, the bridge is not only a traffic building on a river, but also a place to relax with a “park bench”. -- ArchDaily

Source: Adnan Alagić, Bojan Kanlić & Amila Hrustić archdaily.com

Festina Lente, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2012 designed by Adnan Alagić, Bojan Kanlić & Amila Hrustić

The basic idea of the bridge is the union of the secular and spiritual and to establish a balance between left and right side. -- ArchDaily

Source: ipv Delft archdaily.com

Hovenring, Circular Cycle Bridge, Eindhoven, Netherlands, 2012 designed by ipv Delft

The cable-stayed bridge offers cyclists and pedestrians an exciting crossover. With its impressive 70-metre pylon, 72 metre diameter, thin deck and conspicuous lighting, the cyclist roundabout is a new landmark for the city. -- ArchDaily

Source: Hanns Joosten archdaily.com

Spannbandbrücke, Tirschenreuth, Germany, 2013 designed by ANNABAU

The wooden body of the bridge is closely connected to the historical meaning of wood in the city of Tirschenreuth, which can also be seen in the cities name. In addition the choice of material refers directly to the vernacular architecture, where untreated wood is often found in construction. The supporting structure of tensioned steel bands requires a minimal substructure, thus the sculptural body of the bridge comes to the foreground. -- ArchDaily

Source: Leonardo Finotti archdaily.com

Friedrich Bayer Bridge, São Paulo – São Paulo, Brazil, 2013 designed by LoebCapote Arquitetura e Urbanismo

Besides connecting the two sides of the canal, the bridge generates a place to contemplate the landscape. Two metallic islands over concrete pilotes surve as support for the 90 meters lenth bridge. Those metallic islands are covered by vegetation, a reference to water-lilies, which were the conceptual reference for the project. In order to maintain the canal navigability, the central span is movable: the two central parts of the linear structure rotate by using electrical motor. -- ArchDaily

Source: Zhenfei Wang archdaily.com

Pedestrian Bridge, Rizhao, China designed by HHD_FUN Architects

Alongside the beach, the key feature of this park is its 50 year old black pine forest and the design challenges are to minimize the construction impact to the natural environment. The curved form was strategically designed to allow the 45 meters long bridge fit into the natural environment while at the same time provide a connection between the city and the beach park. -- ArchDaily

Source: NEXT Architects archdaily.com

Melkwegbrug, Purmerend, The Netherlands designed by NEXT Architects

The most striking part of the bridge, designed by NEXT architects, is a massive arch which reaches the height of 12m above water level and stands in a continuous line with the Melkweg-road, thus offering an incredible view over the city. The high lookout is an attraction in itself and lets pedestrians fully experience the relation between the new and historic center of Purmerend. -- ArchDaily

Source: Jesus Granada archdaily.com

Twisted Valley, Elche, Alicante, Spain designed by Grupo Aranea

The roads that float on the untouchable riverbed of concrete, become the heroes of the reconquest. And they blur the difference between bridge and path, becoming a graphic thought solved by a material abstraction. A single bridge becomes a network of trails which fold, bend, stretch, tighten, disperse, curve, and of course twist. -- ArchDaily

Source: Timothy Soar archdaily.com

River Hull Footbridge, Hull, UK designed by McDowell + Benedetti

The structure consists of a steel spine cantilevering around from a 3-dimensional braced ring structure approximately 16m in diameter. The spine is a hybrid structure with the ‘root’ section conceived as a diagrid/shell structure and the tip as a shell structure. Steel plates clad the surface of the walkways whilst horizontal bracing provides additional longitudinal stiffness. -- ArchDaily

Source: Michael Zimmermann archdaily.com

Passerelle de la Paix, Passerelle de la Paix, 69300 Caluire-et-Cuire, France, 2014 designed by Dietmar Feichtinger Architectes

The bridge spans over the river with a free span of 157 meters. Two cantilevers built of a three dimensional asymmetric tube structure join in the middle of the river. The structure is extremely slender and offers a maximum of transparency. -- ArchDaily

Source: DISSING+WEITLING Architecture archdaily.com

Bicycle Snake, Passerelle de la Paix, 69300 Caluire-et-Cuire, France, 2014 designed by DISSING+WEITLING Architecture

The bicycle snake meanders 6-7 meters above sea surface with a length of 190 meters and 30 meters of ramp. The bridge is made of steel, which helps to give it a light and elegant look. The surface has a bright orange color, which creates a clear visual course for cyclists. -- ArchDaily

Source: archdaily.com

Merchant Square Footbridge, Paddington, London W2, UK, 2014 designed by Knight Architects

....the 3m wide cantilevered structure spans 20m across the Grand Union Canal and is raised using hydraulic jacks with an action similar to that of a traditional Japanese hand fan. This creates a kinetic sculpture whose silhouette is both legible and extraordinary and which is well suited to the position next to the canal. -- ArchDaily

Source: Miran Kambič archdaily.com

Footbridge Ribja brv, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 2014 designed by Arhitektura d.o.o

....a transparent, elegant footbridge of minimalist design over the river, one which will allow unobstructed views along the river but at the same time connect both banks as a wide viewpoint over the river. -- ArchDaily

Source: Sina Ahmadi, Mohammad Hassan Ettefagh archdaily.com

Tabiat Pedestrian Bridge, Tehran, Iran, 2014 designed by Diba Tensile Architecture

Tabiat Bridge is the largest pedestrian bridge built so far in Iran. Located in north of Tehran, it connects two public parks by spanning over Shahid Modarres, one of the major highways of the city. ‘Tabiat’ means ‘Nature’ in Persian language. The bridge is about 270 meters long and consists of a 3 dimensional truss with two continuous levels that sits on three tree shape columns. -- ArchDaily

Source: Miran Kambič archdaily.com

Rafting Bridge, Celje, Slovenia, 2014 designed by Arhitektura d.o.o.

The bridge was to span the river in one leap. The new footbridge therefore will not compete with the ambiance of the town scenery by being extravagant or garish, but will complement it with a youthful elegance and boldness, which are made possible by using new technologies and knowledge. -- ArchDaily

Source: Anders Sune Berg archdaily.com

Cirkelbroen Bridge, Christianshavns Kanal, København K, Denmark, 2015 designed by Studio Olafur Eliasson

The bridge is made of five circular platforms, and it contributes to a larger circle that will form a pedestrian route around Copenhagen Harbour, where people – cycling, running, walking – can see the city from a very different perspective. -- ArchDaily

Skin of Architecture: Punched Holes 6

Source: archdaily.com

Melnikov House, Moscow, Russia, 1929 designed by Konstantin Melnikov

Located in the rear is the iconic portion of the house with numerous hexagonal windows perforating the façade. Exterior walls finished with white plaster are constructed in a honeycomb latticework using local brick, similar to the method pioneered by Vladimir Shukhov in 1896 using metal. This method employed minimal material while ensuring an efficient and rigid structure. The shapes of the windows are a direct result of the honeycomb structure, with the angles determined by quarter lengths of the standard local bricks. Nearly 60 hexagonal windows employing nine types of frames establish the aesthetic quality of the rear cylinder, showering the interior with light.  -- ArchDaily

Source: toyo-ito.co.jp

Mikimoto Ginza2, Tokyo, Japan, 2005 designed by Toyo Ito & Associates

Painted in a subtly sparkling mica-laced pale pink, the four walls are a marvel of engineering. Each comprises two 56 m tall steel sheets; manufactured in sections, welded together on-site, and installed barely 20 cm apart. With concrete poured between, the steel is strong enough to support the 9 stories. --MIMOA

Source:  SmartPlayhouse, Etsy

These Children's Playhouses Mimic Contemporary Japanese Architecture

Barcelona-based designer David Lamolla of SmartPlayhouse creates children’s playhouses based on contemporary architecture styles, aiming to create fun spaces for children that are also sculptural elements for the garden. -- ArchDaily

 

Source: archdaily.com

ABC Museum, Illustration and Design Center, Madrid, Spain designed by Aranguren & Gallegos Architects. Via ArchDaily.

Source: Kaido Haagen archdaily.com

Kindergarten Lotte, Tartu, Estonia, 2008 designed by Kavakava Architects

Prefabricated concrete is used for a walls with triangular windows – great accuracy was needed here because triangular glass panes were inserted directly (without frames) into the concrete wall. -- ArchDaily

Source: archdaily.com

House in JigozenX, Tokyo, Japan, 2009 designed by Suppose Design Office

In this building, the interior and exterior flow together with the existence of what you could call a half-outdoor space.

This space creates a gradation from inside to outside. With a space which is at the same time like a terrace, a veranda, an inside room, and the outdoors, items which normally would be found inside, such as books and paintings, a study or a bath, can actively participate in this middle-ground between interior and exterior. -- ArchDaily

Source: Lu Zhigang archdaily.com

SENSO Convention Center, Binhu, Wuxi, Jiangsu, China, 2010 designed by MINAX

Irregular windows lead the light into the interior, breaking the feeling of order created by metal materials. This brings a brand new visual experience to the workers who spent most of working time in the factory. -- ArchDaily

Source: Machné Architekten archdaily.com

Community Center in Abfaltersbach, Abfaltersbach, Austria, 2011 designed by Machné Architekten

The individual functions are as large “boulders” scattered on the site. By dividing the building into separate areas, it is possible to give each part its optimal form. For example, both the auditorium and music rehearsal rooms are polygonal, for acoustic requirements. -- ArchDaily

Source: Philippe Ruault archdaily.com

Lons le Saunier Mediatheque, Lons-le-Saunier, France, 2012 designed by du Besset-Lyon Architectes

It draws its strength and its strangeness owing to the fact that it maintains an active relationship with its neighbours. Thus, the curvature of its southern façade addresses a direct response to the large slope of the slate covered roof of the church; the curve of its plan constitutes a natural connection between the street of Cordeliers, the new central place and the back of the church. -- ArchDaily

Source: Ben McMillan archdaily.com

Ceramic Museum And Mosaic Park, Jinzhou, Dalian, Liaoning, China, 2012 designed by Casanova + Hernandez Architects

On the one hand, the use of broken local ceramic pieces of different colours for the materialization of the pavement and benches of the park and for the facades of the museum evokes the mosaic tradition that was widespread throughout Europe by the Roman Empire and that has evolved along history till the present day bringing technical solutions such as the trecandís technique used by the Catalan modernist architects.

On the other hand, the geometry of the park is inspired by the crackled glaze of the Chinese porcelain developed from the 10th century during the Song Dynasty in the Ru Ware and Ge Ware ceramic pieces. The Mosaic park and the Ceramic Museum remind citizens that the Jinzhou region was once a production area of ceramic and porcelain, although this tradition was lost for centuries, being nowadays forgotten. -- ArchDaily

Source: D’HOUNDT+BAJART Architects & Associates archdaily.com

Andrée Chedid Media Library, 156 Rue Fin de la Guerre, 59200 Tourcoing, France, 2013 designed by D’HOUNDT+BAJART Architects & Associates

The eastern and western walls will form a set of perforated structures, opening the view to the outside while protecting it from the passer-by’s looks. -- ArchDaily

Source: MingFu Weng archdaily.com

Wat Ananda Metyarama Thai Buddhist Temple, Block 116 HDB Jln Bukit Merah, 116 Jalan Bukit Merah, Singapore, 2014 designed by Czarl Architects

Abstraction of  light  filtering through the gaps between the leaves of the Boddhi tree  are necessarily mapped onto the facade to create an organic random pattern  of triangular windows.  While seemingly random, the position and size of windows  are actually tabulated in relation to the degree for natural lighting as required to by the interior space.   -- ArchDaily

Building/Ground: Carved Outs

Source: construction.com

Rolex Learning Center, Lausanne, Switzerland, 2010 designed by SANAA

It’s hard to resist likening the structure to a thick-cut slice of Swiss cheese, its rectangular form punctuated by a dozen or so variously-sized holes, or patios, as the architects call them. The patios bring daylight to all areas of the building, and the larger ones serve as entrances where their sloping forms touch the ground. -- Architectural Record

Source: Iwan Baan archdaily.com

Teshima Art Museum, Japan, 2010 designed by Ryue Nishizawa

The open gallery space features 25cm thick concrete shell with two elliptical openings that are open to elements. -- ArchDaily

Source: Iwan Baan archdaily.com

Hiroshi Senju Museum, Japan, 2011 designed by Ryue Nishizawa

The museum opened in October 2011 and possesses around 100 works by Hiroshi, a Japanese painter known for his large scale waterfall paintings. -- ArchDaily

Source: Communauté d’agglomération du Marsan archdaily.com

Mont de Marsan Mediatheque, Place de la Caserne Bosquet, 40000 Mont-de-Marsan, France, 2012 designed by archi5

The Media Library stands in the middle of the Bosquet barracks, and care has been taken to augment the dialogue with the place’s strong architectural whole. With its clean envelope of pure geometric lines, a 197 ft x 197 ft square, the building complies with the classical layout yet contrasts with its austerity by offsetting the system with a corner opening onto the city. Its facades reflect the surrounding barracks like a respectful, deferential mirror.

The interior space on the ground floor is completely open and centres around a patio, the design of which has been inspired by Matisse’s paintings of acanthus leaves, and the volumes of which recall Alvar Aalto’s vases. -- ArchDaily

City Model: Edushi based in China

Edushi (or rather, E-City)

Established on March 2004, Hangzhou Aladdin Information & Technology Company has been engaged in the emulation technique development.  -- Hangzhou Aladdin Inormation & Technology Co. Ltd

Urban Spaces: Square 4

Source: wikipedia.org

Bedford Square, London, UK

The square takes its name from the main title of the Russell family, the Dukes of Bedford, who were the main landlords in Bloomsbury.

Bedford Square is one of the best preserved set pieces of Georgian architecture in London, but most of the houses have now been converted into offices. -- Wikipedia

Source: Naru Kenji Panoramio.com

Belgrave Square, London, UK

Belgrave Square is one of the grandest and largest 19th century squares in London, England. -- Wikipedia

Source: e-architect.co.uk

Fitzroy Square, London, UK

Fitzroy Square is one of the Georgian squares in London and is the only one found in the central London area known as in Fitzrovia. Today, the square is largely pedestrianised (scheme designed by Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe). In 2008 the square was upgraded by relaying most of the surface at a single level, removing street clutter such as bollards, and further restricting vehicular access. -- Wikipedia

Building/Ground: Changing Topography 6

Source: David Frutos archdaily.com

Public Library and Reading Park, Torre-Pacheco, Murcia, Spain, 2007 designed by Martín Lejarraga

The folded terrain characterizes the design, in which the two facilities that occupy the site, Library and Park, adapt their relative position, forming sheltered reception, communication, and accommodation spaces. Public space contains and protects the building – two sides of the same coin. -- ArchDaily

Source: Jaime Sicilia archdaily.com

Sa Vinyeta Hostel, Menorca, Spain, 2008 designed by Ripolltizon

The project is developed simultaneously in both, a landscape and architectural scale. The aim is to create a new complex that integrates the existing elements with the new functions and buildings under a single logic. The reference elements to start the design were the main existing building and the two key elements of the landscape: the horizontal plane of the flat land and the dry stone walls. -- ArchDaily

Source: André Nullens archdaily.com

Library + Restaurant + Multifunctional Space, Dendermonde, Belgium, 2010 designed by BOB361 Architects

By shifting the parking onto the top of the building, the green area can become a pedestrian connection where the main entrance of the library is situated. The roof functions as a public and easily accessible square. The multifunctional hall (exhibitions, functions, lectures…) along the main road and meeting rooms on the “backside” are lifted and can function separately through the roofscape. The ‘roof- square’ acts as a transit space for the flux of cars and people. It folds to get natural light into the underlying spaces. -- ArchDaily

Source: Miguel Souto archdaily.com

Sede Geacam, Cuenca, Spain, 2010 designed by dra arquitectos

The project is part of a set of actions to get an attractive and sustainable space. On a plot in the steep terrain, we adapt to it with molded shapes as three volumes that save the unevenness. The landscape is introduced into the building through attractive elongated courtyards which could guide the various offices of the offices by a north-south orientation logic and save the terrain variations between the two access roads. -- ArchDaily

Source: Hisao Suzuki archdaily.com

Agora Sociocultural Center, San Pedro de Visma, A Coruña, Spain, 2011 designed by Rojo/Fernández-Shaw & Liliana Obal

....an architecture that is integrated with natural land topography and continuing with it. That’s why roof is modeled as landscape, with green and hydroponic systems, calling to a simulated and decorative fiction of a rural landscape associated with original.

....an architecture that balances architectonic and landscape configuration, integrating volumetric form and molded landscape. For that purpose, we are proposing a formal structure, spatially and structurally dense, in which geometric and transparent solids are integrated with continuous and fluid empty spaces that run between them. -- ArchDaily

Source: Iwan Baan archdaily.com

Auditorium in Cartagena, Cartagena, Spain, 2011 designed by Selgas Cano

....the immaculate straightness of the pier edge (straight), the invariably calm sea (flat), the artificially horizontal plane of the dock (flat), the sky as the variable background for this plane (plane on a plane?), all based on an artifice to represent the simplest -and by virtue of its simplicity, the most natural, the most immensely artificial- plane that equates to the most natural. -- ArchDaily

Read an article from Architectural Record 

Source: Adrià Goula Sardà archdaily.com

OKE, Ortuella, Vizcaya, Spain, 2011 designed by aq4 arquitectura

OKE is the new Ortuella Culture House, in the former mining area of Vizcaya. Connect Otxartaga Square, the most significant public space of the village with Catalina Gibaja Street. Use this opportunity to make the new house of culture “stretch” the plaza to the street and the street to the plaza. -- ArchDaily

Source: Philippe Ruault archdaily.com

Lycée Régional René Goscinny, Alpes, Maritimes, France, 2012 designed by José Morales & Rémy Marciano

The building is both layered and dynamic, stretched out and dense reminding us of very different pictures such as those of walled architectures surrounding fields or villages. It has a shape one can immediately recognize and therefore fulfills the basic condition to be identified as a public building. -- ArchDaily

Source: Werner Hutmacher archdaily.com

Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, Abbestraße 2, Berlin, Germany, 2012 designed by Huber Staudt Architekten

The new MRI Laboratory is part of the “physical park” of the PTB Institute. The MRI is located underground in the historic “crystal-controlled-clock cellar”, which lies projecting the basement of the observatory. A folded green roof marks the sculptural entrance, ” submerging” becomes readable, the laboratory thus turns into  an intrinsic element of this park. -- ArchDaily

Source: Eric Taylor archdaily.com

St. Elizabeths East Gateway Pavilion, Washington, DC, USA designed by Davis Brody Bond

The new G8WAY DC, formerly known as Saint Elizabeths East Gateway Pavilion, is a multi-purpose structure providing a venue for casual dining, a farmers’ market and other community, cultural and arts events. The Pavilion, spread over a two-acre plot of the campus, creates an instantly iconic, visible and welcoming view into the site, particularly from the vantage points that reflect the existing and anticipated movements of people from different areas of the neighborhood. Forming a dramatic backdrop to the plaza, the main area of the pavilion is a 24-foot high space filled with modular booths convenient to where food trucks access the site. -- ArchDaily

Source: CROstudio archdaily.com

Section, Source: archdaily.com

Casa de las Ideas Library, Popocatépetl, Camino Verde, 22190 Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, 2012 designed by CROstudio

The slope generated by a different levels articulates a void on the outside at the back of the building, where an outdoor forum proposed. A sequential cascade of spaces makes the smooth and tight building fully open to the public even when outside business hours. The primary intention is to create and contribute to the city through the form of architecture that creates an initiative of civic life in its adjacent spaces. -- ArchDaily

Source: Oscar Hernandez archdaily.com

Borregos Stadium, Aguascalientes, Mexico, 2012 designed by Arkylab + Mauricio Ruiz

....the perceptual impact of an architectural object lies in its density on the contextual level, in this natural case we opt to defragment and spread it along its topography fulfilling its intrinsic functions, this is when it generates a new landscape hybridized from monolithic elements inserted in the site. -- ArchDaily

Source: Joonhwan Yoon archdaily.com

Nine Bridges “The Forum”, Seogwipo-si, Jeju-do, South Korea, 2013 designed by D·Lim Architects

....the subterranean project avoids disrupting views of the surrounding forest and natural landscape. More than half of the volume is dug beneath the ground level, with a large hole subtracted from the roof to filter light through to the spaces below. -- ArchDaily

Source: FG +SG archdaily.com

Centro De Artes Nadir Afonso, Boticas, Portugal, 2013 designed by Louise Braverman

Merging architecture and landscape, Centro de Artes Nadir Afonso links an emerging urban center with its pastoral environs. The1858-square-meter single artist museum fuses a light, lucid contemporaneity with the rich materiality and sustainability of Portuguese design to honor one of Portugal’s most beloved native sons, the artist Nadir Afonso. -- ArchDaily

Source: Paul Warchol archdaily.com

Bushwick Inlet Park, Brooklyn, New York, USA, 2013 designed by Kiss + Cathcart

Bushwick Inlet Park transforms the Brooklyn waterfront from a brownfield industrial strip into a public park. The Park wraps over the building on the west side, turning the building into a green hill so that 100% of the site is accessible to the public. -- ArchDaily

Source: Cemal Emden archdaily.com

Eyüp Cultural Center and Marriage Hall, Istanbul, Turkey, 2013 designed by Emre Arolat Architects

The building is considered as a kind of structural landscape component combining the level difference between the pedesterian way and the sea with a walking ramp. -- ArchDaily

Source: Joao Morgado archdaily.com

Pe no Monte – Rural Tourism, 7630-174 Odemira, Portugal, 2014 designed by [i]da arquitectos

In the lower level, the intervention results in a new independent building that adapts to the topography of the site and uses the slope of the ground to differentiate the owners’ house of the guest areas. This long volume, half-buried and perpendicular to the line of trees, preserves the scale of the house and reinforces the verticality of vegetation. -- ArchDaily

Source: Martin Schubert archdaily.com

Moesgaard Museum, Aarhus, Denmark, 2014 designed by Henning Larsen Architects

With its sloping roofscape of grass, moss and brightly-coloured wild flowers, the building is a powerful visual landmark perceptible even from the sea. -- ArchDaily

Source: Steven Ngu, Andy Lim archdaily.com

The Arc at Bandar Rimbayu, Periwinkle, Bandar Rimbayu, Selangor, Malaysia, 2014 designed by Garis Architects

The roof solution responds to the desire to keep itself and the space below cool by sustainable means: insulating with soil and greenery. In doing so it effectively ‘replaces’ the original greenery at ground plane with an new eco-system on elevated deck that not only provides open space for recreation but also offers higher vantage points to enjoy views across a fairly flat township and the activities below. -- ArchDaily

Source: Fernando Guerra | FG+SG archdaily.com

D. Diogo de Menezes Square, Cascais, Portugal designed by Miguel Arruda Arquitectos Associados

The exterior treatment plan of the parking lot in square D. Diogo de Menezes in Cascais, is projected as a roof surface platform with volumes that connect with the interior of the underground parking.  -- ArchDaily