A Weekly Dose of Architecture Books

Horizontal House in Shiga, Japan by EASTERN design office Text and images are courtesy Anna Nakamura + Taiyo Jinno of EASTERN design office . See also coverage elsewhere of other recently completed projects: Slit Court , Slit House , and MON Factory/House . This house [completed 2007] does not look like a house. The shape of the house traces the boundary of the village, which consists of six houses in all. There is a position to observe the village from afar. Our intention is to form scenery from there, to create a shape that naturally extends the stone wall of old times. The horizontal slit carved there. It becomes familiar within the scenery of the village. When you enter the house, you will be surprised at the sequence of views that the slits cut out and the spaciousness there. Because of the horizontal slits surrounding the whole house there is scene...

Jacob Javits Plaza: Reconsidering Intentions Written for Professor Setha Low's Ethnography of Place and Space: Landscapes of Fear at The Graduate Center, CUNY May 24, 2007 Jacob Javits Plaza is a public space in Lower Manhattan currently occupied by a series of bright-green, painted benches curling around six large mounds covered with small bushes. It is an eye-catching design that carries with it – unbeknownst to most visitors – the erased history of the site, a long-demolished Richard Serra sculpture called Tilted Arc. The success – or lack thereof – of the current plaza design in turn depends upon the minimalist sculpture that preceded it, as the benches and mounds designed by landscape architect Martha Schwartz are intentionally in total opposition to Serra’s artwork. This paper will attempt to determine the success of Jacob Javits Plaza through the framework of this historical relationship via a historical analysis, a three-part mapping analysis of the space (seating po...

[House of 5 Dreams by Jones Studio] This week we feature ten of the 22 projects selected in this year's American Architecture Awards program for 2006. The 22 winners of this year's American Architecture Awards -- run by The Chicago Athaneum Museum of Architecture and Design "to honor and celebrate the most outstanding accomplishments for new architecture designed and built in the United States by leading American and international architecture firms" -- range from an installation to a skyscraper, with many in-between. Like many architectural awards, single-family residences are in abundance. Perhaps the biggest is the House of 5 Dreams by Jones Studio, a 30,000 s.f. house/private museum for a "pair of prolific art and artifact collectors" in P...

HYBRIDS II: Low-Rise Mixed-Use Buildings edited by Aurora Fernandez Per, Javier Mozas and Javier Arpa a+t architecture publishers , 2008 The second installment in a+t's exploration of mixed-use buildings turns the first on its side. Where Hybrids I looked at high-rises, the successor presents ten low-rise projects, ranging from a couple relatively compact buildings in the urban centers of Madrid and Nuremberg by Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos to Office dA 's sprawling Sports Shooting Club in Kuwait City. The movement from small to large points to a predilection for a new generation of megastructures , this time realized, diverse in character and -- obviously, as the title implies -...

Podčetrtek Traffic Circle in Podčetrtek, Slovenia, by ENOTA, 2012 Podčetrtek is a small town in eastern Slovenia on the border with Croatia. Although only a few thousand people call Podčetrtek home, the town features a surprising amount of striking contemporary architecture, thanks to Ljubljana's ENOTA . Previously the office of Dean Lah and Milan Tomac designed and realized the Termalija (2004), Hotel Sotelia (2006), and Orchidelia (2009), all run by Terme Olimia , a thermal spa that bills itself as "a popular destination for those who want more than just to experience the beneficial effects of thermal water." Terme Olimia touts the place's history and the benefits of the hot springs for treating certain diseases and conditions, such as rheumatic diseases and arterial disorders. Terme Olimia is "witnessing a very successful development of health tourism," and with that success comes increased traffic, something that spurred the spa to com...

Last night I attended a presentation and panel discussion on New Waterfront Housing in Brooklyn and Queens. Three of the four* recent and ongoing projects presented are located on the East River, on former industrial sites. :: Queens West by Arquitectonica :: River East by Studio V :: Northside Piers by FXFowle And not presented last night, but discussed here is :: Silvercup West by Richard Rogers (*The fourth project presented was Averne by the Sea by EEK Architects .) Moderator Bonnie Harken raised some important issues, ones not adequately addressed in the presentations or the later discussion. These include the allotment and design of public spaces in private developments, access to the waterfront, affordable housing, and issues of sustainability. I'll try to address these issues relative to each, though I'm more interested in the overall effect of these developments, on the city, the waterfront, and the environment. Location plan As can be seen in the aerial above, thr...