Sustainable architecture
An overview of projects, products and exclusive articles about sustainable architecture
News • Detail • 10 May 2024
Detail: Red facade and triangular plot create distinctive apartment building in Barcelona
Barcelona-based architectural studios MIAS Architects and Coll-Leclerc have completed the development of a distinctive apartment building complex containing 72 social housing units. The building is defined by its triangular plot and red facade, a reference to the area in which it is located.
MIAS Architects and Coll-Leclerc Architects
Adrià Goula
La Marina del Prat Vermell is a neighborhood in the Sants-Montjuïc district of Barcelona. The area was once home to a number of textile colonies. Established in the mid-19th century, these colonies lay to the south of Montjuic (a hill with historical significance in Barcelona), close to the sea. Fabrics were dyed and then laid out on meadows to dry. The ground acquire... More
News • News • 8 May 2024
Snøhetta completes Norway’s first naturally climatized mixed-use building
Global transdisciplinary architecture and design practice Snøhetta has completed Norway’s first naturally climatized mixed-use building. Vertikal Nydalen is located in the Nydalen neighborhood of Oslo, a former industrial area by the river Akerselva. The visually appealing and dynamic structure incorporates a simplified and self-sufficient climate system, based on research into sustainable energy solutions.
Lars Petter Pettersen/Snøhetta
Snøhetta and Lala Tøyen
Over the course of several decades, Nydalen has transitioned from an industrial area into a modern business hub. The site on which Vertikal Nydalen sits had been used as a car park. In a bid to transform the neighborhood into a vib... More
Spark Lodges at YDD Resort
The project was initiated due to the popularity of summer river-trekking at Jinkeng Village, a chill-out place where people would love to find a comfortable lodge to stay overnight compared to a tent. Given the fact that the village is part of Liuyang (Hunan, China), a city world-renowned for its fireworks industry, the concept of fusing contemporary industrial materials with natural and rural surroundings began to take shape.
EERI
EERI
EERI
EERI
The translucent polycarbonate panels on the roof are the most eye-catching feature of the exterior. This inexpensive material displays different visual textures at different angles and lighting conditions, forming the profile together with pine plank... More
Project • By Wallmakers • Cultural Centres
Nisarga
Nisarga Art Hub is an initiative by a family of musicians to make a community residency where people can interact and congregate for art and cultural events. The site was near a paddy field, with the traditional “Kerala Roofs” being the only feature crowding the horizon around it. Even though these traditional roofs are famous for being the ideal insulators and temperature regulators, it’s a waning feature in contemporary architecture today, simply because the darkness they bring is not suited to the modern man’s comfort and aesthetics. Thus, the idea to break open the roof to accommodate skylights that stream in the light was conceived.
Syam Sreesylam
Syam Sreesylam
The 35° angle of the ro... More
News • Specification • 2 May 2024
10 homes making use of straw bale construction and insulation
Straw has a long history as a building material, finding application in thatch roofs, as a binding agent in adobe bricks, as an insulant, and in straw bale construction.
It is increasingly recognized that the construction sector plays a huge role in contributing to the climate emergency, accounting for 37 percent of global carbon emissions. Straw, a renewable, recyclable, regionally available, and low-cost material, offers a climate-friendly alternative to conventional building materials such as concrete and steel. A recent report by the United Nations Environment Programme (2023) highlights that the annual supply of bamboo and straw, two fast-growing and renewable biomass resources, outweighs demand. The report calls attention to th... More
News • News • 2 May 2024
ATP architects engineers completes office building in line with “New Work” principles and sustainability goals
ATP architects engineers has completed a sustainable operational and office building for Austrian manufacturer Tyrolit in the German town of Maisach. The building is designed in line with the principles of “New Work”, a concept that embraces flexibility, autonomy, and self-fulfillment for employees in the workplace. Moreover, the achievement of sustainability goals is integral to the new building: allied to the ATP Green Deal (ATP’s response to the 2020 European Green Deal), the building’s sustainability goals are realized in accordance with the “40 Plus Efficiency House” standard. (This voluntary standard aims to improve energy efficiency by reducing energy consumption, improving indoor air quality, and... More
News • News • 1 May 2024
SOM completes “terminal in a garden” at Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport
International and interdisciplinary architecture, design, and engineering firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) has reimagined the conventional airport experience in its design for Terminal 2 of Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport in southern India. Envisaged as a “terminal in a garden”, the landscaped transport hub is inspired by Bengaluru’s reputation as India’s “garden city” and rethinks the architectural homogeneity of many of the world’s airports.
Ar. Ekansh Goel © Studio Recall
Ar. Ekansh Goel © Studio Recall
The new 255,000-square-meter (2,744,797-square-feet) terminal is a creative nod to Bengaluru’s rich history and culture and at the sa... More
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