Sustainable architecture
An overview of projects, products and exclusive articles about sustainable architecture
News • News • 24 Apr 2024
Mole Architects and Invisible Studio complete sustainable, utilitarian building for Forest School Camps
Mole Architects and Invisible Studio have completed “The Big Roof”, a new low-carbon and low-energy storage and training facility for Forest School Camps, a charitable organization that runs educational camps for children. Located in the Cambridgeshire Fens, a marshland region in eastern England, the new building is assisting Forest School Camps with its operational requirements and storage needs.
David Butler
David Butler
Mole Architects and Invisible Studio
The Big Roof is a 745-square-meter (8,019-square-feet) single-story building that replaces three previous structures in various states of disrepair. Mole Architects and Invisible Studio designed a multipurpose facility that incorporates storage,... More
Project • By Inspiral Architecture and Design Studios • Restaurants
Luna Beach Club Bali
Sitting on the cliffside of Nyanyi Beach in Bali, this project delivered on the opportunity to create a standout destination for events, dining, arts, and holistic hedonism combined with playful relaxation, where unique iconic architecture overlooks the ocean. The master plan features a series of groundbreaking naturally inspired buildings that create a hub of activity that is conceived according to Fibonacci sequences that connect flow and movement throughout the property.
Inspiral Architecture and Design Studios
Central to the complex is the main beach club which appears as a vortex-like structure, built of bamboo and basalt which serves as the main restaurant area, and is covered with layers of woven shades to keep the interior com... More
News • News • 11 Apr 2024
Austin Maynard Architects designs a “pretty” wellness-enhancing home in Melbourne
Australian architectural studio Austin Maynard Architects recently completed a new two-story house in South Yarra, an inner-city suburb in Melbourne. Designed for a family of four (and their dog), the house encapsulates the client’s vision for a “wellness-enhancing home that is architectural and inspirational.” The home is called Lang 靚 which in Mandarin and Cantonese means “pretty”. Built on a small plot, an orderly layout maximizes space and offers a balance of indoor–outdoor living.
Tess Kelly
Tess Kelly
Austin Maynard Architects
The clients were especially keen to live in a house without hallways and corridors. They placed an emphasis on having a pragmatic and energy effici... More
News • News • 11 Apr 2024
Ædifica completes residential development in Montreal emphasizing densification, sustainability, and quality of life
Montreal-based architectural practice Ædifica has completed Cité Angus II, the second phase of a residential development in the Technopôle Angus, an urban regeneration project in the suburbs of Montreal, Quebec. Cité Angus II comprises 88 condominium units, including two small first-floor commercial units facing a public square. The Technopôle Angus is Quebec’s first mixed eco-district: completed in 2023, the eco-friendly Cité Angus II development is now striving for LEED Gold certification.
David Boyer
The Technopôle Angus features a mix of office and commercial properties, residential buildings, green spaces, and public squares. First conceived in the late 1990s, the urban regen... More
News • News • 10 Apr 2024
Knox Bhavan reimagines challenging London brownfield site as contemporary low-carbon home
London-based architectural practice Knox Bhavan designed Threefold House, a new residential property in Teddington, south-west London. The low-carbon house is constructed on a brownfield site in a built-up area that was previously occupied by a disused warehouse. The contemporary home includes three courtyards and sits on a challenging 450-square-meter (4,844-square-feet) triangular plot, surrounded by other properties and a small car park.
Edmund Sumner
Caption
The name Threefold House is a reference to the building’s “origami-inspired assemblage of geometrical planes,” explains Knox Bhavan. The site is bounded by a new 2.5-meter-high (8-feet-high) perimeter wall that recalls the former warehouse wall.... More
News • News • 8 Apr 2024
Mario Cucinella Architects completes sustainable Smart Factory in Brazil with distinctive roof and impressive funnel
Italian architecture and design practice Mario Cucinella Architects (MCA) has completed a forward-looking and sustainable Smart Factory and Brazilian HQ for Nice, an Italian multinational working in the home automation, home security, and smart home sector. Located in the city of Limeira in Brazil, the 20,000-square-meter (215,278-square-feet) building replaces the idea of a conventional, closed manufacturing space with one that prioritizes openness and creates a connection with the local community and surrounding environment.
Duccio Malagamba
The new building benefits from its proximity to a natural water source and forest, something that inspired Mario Cucinella Architects (MCA) to “explore a bioclimatic design model in te... More
News • News • 3 Apr 2024
Atelier Nomadic designs bamboo restaurant in the Maldives modeled on a pink whipray
Rotterdam-based architectural design studio Atelier Nomadic has completed the Overwater Restaurant at the Banyan Tree Vabinafaru resort in the Maldives. A prepossessing bioclimatic structure, the restaurant is built entirely from bamboo. (Atelier Nomadic is the architectural design studio at Nomadic Resorts.)
Joe Chua Agdeppa
Joe Chua Agdeppa
Atelier Nomadic describes the structure as a “stunning example of biomimicry” — the design is modeled on the pink whipray, a species of stingray that can be found in the surrounding azure lagoon.
Joe Chua Agdeppa
Approached via a timber walkway from the main resort, the structure’s sweeping tail guides visitors into the main, voluminous body &m... More
News • News • 2 Apr 2024
ATP architects engineers completes “feel-good” office building with a “green heart” in Cologne
ATP architects engineers has completed an administration headquarters for Kassenärztliche Vereinigung Nordrhein (KVNO) — North Rhine Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians — in Cologne, Germany. Designed with rounded corners and an almost circular form, the urban building is located on a former airport site in the Cologne-Ossendorf district and encompasses a 720-square-meter (7,750-square-feet) courtyard: a “green heart”.
ATP/Friedmann
ATP architects engineers
ATP architects engineers
Facade
The building’s facade — a mix of metal, glass, and natural stone on the ground floor — has been designed to be highly energy efficient, eliminating the nee... More
News • News • 13 Mar 2024
Studio Egret West develops plans for new Passivhaus homes
London-based multidisciplinary architecture and design practice Studio Egret West has developed plans for thirty-eight Passivhaus homes in Swindon, England. The sustainable development is centered around the concept of “allotment living”. A variety of housing typologies will reinterpret the locality’s pitched-roof building vernacular and embrace Passivhaus (also known as Passive House) performance standards of energy efficiency.
Studio Egret West
The new development will provide community allotments — community gardens — that encourage residents to garden together, grow food, and build community. The site aims to respond to and connect with the wider natural landscape, including numerous green spaces... More
News • News • 7 Mar 2024
New Beijing City Library by Snøhetta appears like a fantastical temple for books
International and transdisciplinary architecture and design practice Snøhetta has completed the mammoth Beijing City Library. Located in the Chinese capital’s Tongzhou District, the project expresses a transformative vision for the concept of a library in the current digital age.
Yumeng Zhu
Tongzhou District lies approximately 20 kilometers (around 12.5 miles) from the center of Beijing and is considered the eastern gateway to the capital. Once an area with a number of smaller villages, Tongzhou has been transformed as part of an ambitious masterplan and is very much an extension of Beijing’s vast urban fabric. The library is one of three new cultural buildings in the district and part of a drive to establish To... More
News • News • 5 Mar 2024
Metropolitan station in Lublin designed as one of the most sustainable projects of its kind in Poland
Warsaw-based architecture studio Tremend has completed Dworzec Lublin, a new metropolitan station in Lublin, Poland, with distinctive openwork pillars holding aloft a decorative canopy roof. The station is at the core of the multidimensional Integrated Transportation Center infrastructure project in Lublin, the capital city of Lublin Voivodeship (a province in south-eastern Poland). A main transport hub in the center of the city, it is designed to be one of the most sustainable projects of its kind in the country.
Rafal Chojnacki
Rafal Chojnacki
Dworzec Lublin connects urban, regional, and national transport networks. Its canopied platforms include terminals for road transportation; underground parking is available for ca... More
Project • By Studio Alvise Stramare • Offices
16 | Office Building in Italy
Our latest office project involves renovating a 60's building and adjoining a new extension to wrap up the original volume. Rather than opting for a completely new construction, we agreed with the client to reuse and extend their former office to achieve their strict sustainability targets.
Federico Farinatti
Caption
Caption
Caption
We wanted to find a new way of using broad workplaces, somewhere between the absolute open space layout typically adopted by some American corporations and the more classical box-adjoining strategy. We came up with the idea of not defining the areas occupied by the distinct departments: we proposed instead to use the 98-meter-long building as a gradient from the quietest to the most rumorous... More
News • Detail • 14 Feb 2024
Detail: The planned disassembly of a temporary wooden sports hall in Zurich
Swiss architectural practice Itten+Brechbühl AG (IB) has completed the “Sporthallenprovisorium Gloriarank” — temporary sports hall Gloriarank. Located in the center of Zurich, the prefabricated wooden structure will provide an interim sports facility during the development of Forum UZH, a new education and research center for the University of Zurich (UZH).
Yohan Zerdoun Photography
Scheduled for realization during the next decade, Forum UZH is a significant part of the large-scale transformation of Zurich’s university quarter. To complete the project, it is necessary to remove four existing sports halls — they will be replaced by new sports facilities in the Forum UZH center. In the m... More
News • News • 12 Feb 2024
Restrained architecture of new wellness retreat by Studio A+ emphasizes closeness with nature
Studio A+ has completed the Mu Feng Yue Hot Spring Hotel, a wellness retreat located in Fengxi New City, Shanxi Province, China. The hotel’s restrained architecture emphasizes a closeness with nature, from its rustic facade to the meticulous landscaping.
Archi-translator
Archi-translator
More than a physical structure, the hotel is defined by the careful placement of a series of walls that compose and frame its myriad spaces. “These walls fold and unfold the spatial experience, integrating the ‘environment’ with its larger context,” says Studio A+. A sunken courtyard gives the impression of a structure that emerges from and is a part of the land. The building’s board-formed concre... More
Project • By Harikrushna Pattani & Associates • Private Houses
Concrete House In Ahmedabad
Ahmedabad Bungalow Design:
Nestled in the heart of vibrant Ahmedabad, a striking contemporary bungalow emerges, masterfully weaving together wood and concrete in a symphony of aesthetics and sustainability. This 6000 sq. ft. residence, perched on a 380 sq. yd. plot, redefines urban living by seamlessly blending nature and design.
Harikrushna Pattani & Associates
Harikrushna Pattani & Associates
Harikrushna Pattani & Associates
Sustainable Architecture:
Exposed concrete walls offer strength and a modern touch, while expansive wooden decks and beams exude warmth. Sunlight dances through strategically placed slats, creating a mesmerizing effect on polished concrete floors. Vertical gardens and potted plants soften... More