Sustainable architecture

Jim Stephenson Jim Stephenson   Planning for this project was won under Paragraph 79, the Country House Clause, with a design taking inspiration from the surroundings.   The overall design is simple and clean. An elegant brick front complements the brickwork of the of garden wall and a discrete front door opening references the gate in the garden wall.   Further down, an oriel window breaks through, hinting at what is behind. Elsewhere, external surfaces are dark render, designed to recede visually in deference to the surrounding garden. Jim Stephenson Jim Stephenson Jim Stephenson   Tucked within, the house has a glass roofed courtyard at its center, a winter garden flooding light into th... More

The Village by CA is a business accelerator that connects startups with large companies, ETIs and SMEs. It helps startups to grow and develop as close as possible to its 40 corporate partners (Naval Group, IBM, PSA, Capgemini...) in an open-innovation logic. ERG Architecture has chosen Green Blade® acoustics for a sustainable and elegant design in the auditorium guaranteeing excellent acoustics for presentations, pitch, and musicians speaking in the Village.    More

Koh Kong, a peninsula in the Gulf of Thailand and part of Cambodia’s 450-kilometre coastline, features a number of closely interrelated ecosystems. Expansive mangrove forests carve out small islands, waterways, and ecologically diverse estuaries along the coast, creating a vital and fragile ecosystem which local communities rely on for their livelihoods. In recent decades, economic development in the country, characterized by widespread natural resource exploitation, has devastated Koh Kong’s wildlife and has marginalized local communities from the forests, fisheries, and arable areas which they need to live and thrive. Koh Kong Mangrove Lodging provides an alternative model of development, one that is rooted in the preservatio... More

Set snugly into the very steep terrain, this house hugs the natural contours of the site. In a gesture reminiscent of water pooling and streaming down the slopes of a valley, the house features a series of three ponds. Rain water collected on the roof of the house is channelled into the first and uppermost pond which overflows into a creek down the slope into the second pond, before cascading into the third one at the bottom. At each pond, the water collected is used for irrigation of the garden. Caption The swimming pool is at the heart of this L-shape house, and the path of the rainwater channelling. Caption In response to the existing terrain, numerous steep slopes had to be cut to accommodate the built-in components of the h... More

Stepping up the hotel experience...Low-impact tiny hotel suite that brings nature inThe Drop Box N-240 is a low-impact modular suite especially suitable for anyone who has an inherent yearning for nature but doesn’t want to cause a negative impact on the environment as a consequence of its stay in nature.   An alternative to traditional hotel accommodation by facilitating customers with a comfortable and sustainable stay in natural locationsThe N-240 unit is part of the DROP box hotel suites Collection, which opens up a whole new world of possibilities for the hotel industry. This collection comprises transportable suites ready to be dropped into location as well as suites manufactured off-site, transported and quickly assemble... More

A showcase of Industry 4.0 – a modern garment manufacturing plant integrated with the unique beauty of the Chinese landscape 1. Mission Integral is located in the Jiumeiqiao District of Guilin in Guangxi Province. The total area of the first and second phases of the project stretch over a 511,800 square-metre site. The first phase was completed in 2019, and the entire project is expected to be completed by the end of 2020.  The development of Integral has been driven by Esquel, a leading textile and apparel manufacturer. Their vision was to change the traditional image of textile manufacturing being a “low-tech” processing industry by integrating conservation elements with the concept of “Industry 4.0&rdq... More

The site is a hide away, embraced by the Aravali Range with its greenery punctuated by quarried Rock, Kota village and the ITC golf course.The client being a golf enthusiast and having farming as a hobby, desired to use the place as a weekend getaway from his city life. Client’s brief was to create a farmhouse which would merge with its surroundings. Finishes were to have minimum required maintenance as the place would be used only once in a week. The vocabulary of the place was identified to resonate with the client’s personality - a symphony of contemporary and rustic. The site is of 3 acres, zoning of the which has been done in three parts, Main House, Servant Quarters and the Fields. 1.5 acres allocated to the fields and... More

The NMF Residence is a contemporary house that evokes and celebrates traditional architecture such as the Hacienda house in Guanacaste, one of the typical manifestations of architecture in the northwest region of Costa Rica.   Guanacaste's vernacular architecture is a faithful reflection of knowledge and adaptation to the adverse climatic conditions of the Pacific plains of Guanacaste, a warm and dry climate under the scorching sun. This tradition is now reinterpreted to create a modern design, of geometric figures that allow the separation of environments and open internal spaces to the outdoors.   The NMF Residence is conceived and configured as a large central open space at double height, with movable glass floor-to-ceiling... More

“Breath-taking” is a double edged sword… in Leh.  There are tomes written about the majesty, grandeur and the raw beauty of Ladakh, and for those who have travelled, and had a bout of “mountain sickness”, it’s quite something else.   The mountains, and the shadows cast by clouds in different seasons create a mesmerizing kaleidoscope of colour and texture. And yet, for those who live there, the weather and the altitude are a formidable companion to live with. And if that was not enough, it is a highly unstable, seismically active geology!  How does one, then, create a built environment, that is …“suitable”!? A simple word.. which sets off a whole area of research. Arm... More

LBBA has been working with Latin United Community Housing Association (LUCHA) for over 25 years to transform empty lots and rundown buildings into safe, decent housing close to schools, parks, and other services. Together, we have built and renovated over 175 units of affordable housing in Humboldt Park. Tierra Linda, a scattered-site housing project located near the Bloomingdale Trail, has been developed to nurture health and healthy living. In July 2014, LUCHA led an interactive eco-charrette to generate and target sustainability goals for its new wellness-centered housing development. The kick-off event, which brought together members of the design team with the maintenance staff, tenants, and neighbors of the future development, intr... More

Asian Century Centre offers large, flexible open plan space in the heart of Bonifacio Global City. Light shelves incorporated above the windows provide shade while increasing daylight penetration. Three skycourts highlight the entrance corner and public plaza at ground level, providing social spaces which also serve as beacons for the development when illuminated at night. More

We were approached by a middle aged couple with young adult children to design a new home for them on a vacant site with access to a secluded beach via a walking track at the end of a court.  The couple are involved in the recycled timber industry and have relocated to the Surfcoast from Melbourne. Jack Lovel The original brief called for a modest timber dwelling with a protected outdoor area away from the strong Southerly breezes and a bridge to enhance the sense of entry. This idea of entry became a prompt for our conceptual framework and through a series of hand drawn sketches the strongest recurring theme was the idea of a central courtyard as an orienting device as well as an arrival point. Jack Lovel In place of the o... More

Containers are multifaceted; a strong symbol of a logistics company and a celebrator of sustainable architecture. Its modular construct naturally allowed us to use 4 containers to create 6 different spaces as a marketing suite for Goodman, with the flexibility to adapt to an evolving site. We maximised the opportunity to have extensive glass openings, which allows potential clients to have an overview of the surrounds. The layering of timber and glass softens the features of an inherently industrial product, establishing harmony amongst nature whilst bringing in light and tropical backdrops into the space. At the end, the build can be collapsed and transported, leaving minimal imprint on the original landscape.   Material Used: 1. S... More