A year many will hope to forget and move on from, and yet architecture production never seemed to slow down. Archello’s Instagram channel showcased the most inspirational designs of the year and grew to half a million followers. Here is an overview of the 10 most liked posts from 2020.
1. Ørsted Gardens by Studio LOKAL / @tegnestuenlokal
Ørsted Gardens designed by Studio LOKAL (Tegnestuen LOKAL)
is an example of a project that brings a generic renovation to a new level, improving the visual and social environment for residents and visitors alike. Ørsted Gardens transformed a dilapidated building that was often referred to as among the ugliest in its neighborhood.
The radical transformation grew out of an ordinary façade renovation, aimed to prevent water from damaging the concrete balconies, into a drastic alteration of the building’s semi-private spaces and a radical reinvention of the façade facing the heavily trafficked street. Instead of just patching up the open balconies with similarly sleek glass panes, Ørsted Gardens aim to create a new social space to bolster the social coherence in the building. To create that social space, a series of triangular glass bays were added to the architecture, creating semi-private decks for the individual residents.
2. Greenery Curtain House by HGAA
Through this project, HGAA wanted to use simple methods, common local materials, to create an emotional living space, close to people and with nature.
Mao Khê House is a simple brick house covered with greenery. The spaces in the house are surrounded by nature, oriented towards nature and facing each other, forming an introverted space, helping to connect people with nature, with people, and with themselves.
3. Nueva Zubiaur Musika Eskola by Javier de las heras solé architect
Javier de las Heras Sole has completed the New Zubiaur School of Music in Amorebeita-Extano, Spain. The design was submitted as part of a competition and envisages the school as an independent element to the adjoining cultural centre yet still in conversation with it. This was achieved by adding a new façade to the cultural centre’s dividing wall, effectively ‘freeing’ it by converting it from a shared entity to now a boundary delineating where the cultural centre’s perimeter ends and the music school begins.
4. StarsBOX by Studio Officina82 / @officina82
StarsBOX comes from the analysis of temporary housing solutions of migrating shepherds, who would visit the mountain pastures in the Ligurian Alps during the summer months. Made of plain birch plywood panels, StarsBOX / @starsbox_official offers shelter, but can also open up towards the sky to provide the visitors with the most aesthetic views of the mountains.
5. Casa Entreparotas by Di Frenna Arquitectos / @difrenna.arquitectos
Entreparotas house is a project which allows its users to live in a constant relation with nature, therefore the premise of choosing a site that would enhance the relevance of the existing flora and a small stream that passes through the terrain. A tropical vegetation, where the parotas and fig trees stand out, generates a jungle atmosphere that made the design concept possible.
6. The Collector's Home by Loader Monteith / @loadermonteith
While Loader Monteith faced multiple challenges in the renovation of The Collector's Home, they succeded to create a space suited to living, with the kitchen being the heart and soul of the home.
7. Walden House by Formative Architects / @formativearchitects
Surroundings of this house have different shape and spatial structure with ordinary rural house. Rather than place courtyard on the south and building on the north as normal, this house is surrounded with embracing wall and 60mm diameter roasted bamboo transported from 'Damyang' around the boundary of entire site.
8. Bona Villa Lahao Stone Houses by United Practice Architects
Lahao Stone Houses designed by United Practice Architects UPA are one of the Bona Villa projects by China Foundation For Poverty Alleviation, constructed with funds donated by Sinopec. The project includes courtyards consisting of six renovated residential buildings, as well as village landscape protection, infrastructure renovation, and public space renewal.
9. House in Charrat by Clavienrossier
Situated away from the village, this house included an adjacent barn and had a too vast volume to be renewed in its totality. Only elements which can easily be reused were preserved, cellars and floors of the pre-existent house. The rest was demolished.
10. Lalo Antwerp by Sculp (it) / @sculp.it
A town house ready for the next century. The façade keeps its historical function and bourgeois radiance, neatly in line. The contrast with the rear is ample. All incorrect additions are replaced by a unit of space and light. Daylight and contact with the garden are introduced. The simple, contemporary glass rear has the world’s largest pivoting window – 3 meters wide by 6 meters high – and makes this house ready for the future.
