AD Review: From the Archives

Among the ArchDaily archives for this week are BIG’s impressive 8 House, a haystack house in the netherlands, the tortoise shell inspired pavilion in Chicago’s Lincoln Park, a rammed earth winery in Australia, and a nature center in Bangladesh.  Follow the break to read highlights of the archives and links to their original project features.

Living on the Edge by Arjen Reas © Kees Hageman

Living on the Edge

The mix of two very different but recognizable materials in the Dutch landscape results in both a modern and traditional structure. The house made of haystacks combines the fine texture of the hay with the smooth white plaster surfaces to result in a house that fuses together traditional ideals with a contemporary house design.  Surprisingly the compactness of the haystacks gives optimal protection against the elements.

8 House by BIG © Jens Lindhe

8 House
The bowtie-shaped mixed-use building features three different types of residential housing and 10,000 sqm of retail and offices.  Allowing people to bike from the street up to its 10th level penthouses alongside terraced gardens, 8 House stacks all ingredients of a lively urban neighborhood into horizontal layers of typologies.  The continuous promenade and cycling path create a three-dimensional urban neighborhood where suburban life merges with the energy of a city, where business and housing co-exist.

Nishorgo Oirabot Nature Interpretation Centre by Vitti Sthapati Brindo Ltd, Ehsan Khan © Aga Khan Award for Architecture / BKS Inan

Nishorgo Oirabot Nature Interpretation Centre

The nature centre in Bangladesh is sensitively placed within the landscape: the reinforced concrete platforms of the ‘pavilion shelter’ float above the ground on structural walls; the concrete slabs are pierced by tree trunks where necessary, reflecting the project’s aim to create as little impact on the environment as possible. The visitor walks up the layers of platforms to a raised level to observe the surroundings, an exhibition area is enveloped in a compositional arrangement of openings framed by wooden lattices, and there is a space for viewing films with walls of exposed, burnt clay brick.

Port Phillip Estate Winery by Wood/Marsh © Earl Carter

Port Phillip Estate Winery

The main entry of the winery punctures the heavy Western orientated rammed earth wall to reveal a striking vista across the coastal vineyard and coastal landscape beyond. Contained between the walls and overarching timber-lined ceiling, a large restaurant and cellar door takes full advantage of this view.

Port Phillip Estate Winery carves into an undulating site overlooking picturesque vineyards, Westernport bay and Bass Strait. Sited just below a ridge, the building unfurls across site, spiralling out of the ground and slowly rising to form a 100m long wall with one opening. This abstract, sculptural form conceals much of the mass and various program within the building, presenting a bold and simple gesture to the public.

Bouldin Residence by Alter Studio © Paul Bardagjy Photography

Bouldin Residence

The design of this house in Texas presents an aesthetic that engages serendipity in many guises, where board-formed concrete, rough recycled wood flooring, and vertical cedar siding is posed against abstract detailing allowing sunlight and shadow from every direction.

Lincoln Park Zoo South Pond by Studio Gang Architects Courtesy of Studio Gang Architects

Lincoln Park Zoo South Pond

Inspired by the tortoise shell, the laminated structure consists of prefabricated, bent-wood members and a series of interconnected fiberglass pods that give global curvature to the surface.

Tower House by Andersson Wise Architects © Art Gray

Tower House

The original stone cabin is now juxtaposed with a vertical tower of wood, rising up out of the forest and into the bright Texas sky. The Tower draws you up to see the lake, barely visible at ground level through the thicket of trees.