Thermal mass
An overview of projects, products and exclusive articles about thermal mass
News • News • 14 Oct 2024
Zaha Hadid Architects revealed as designers of the new Alisher Navoi International Scientific Research Centre
In New Tashkent, Uzbekistan, the Alisher Navoi International Scientific Research Centre by Zaha Hadid Architects will include the Navoi State Museum of Literature, Auditorium, International Research Centre, and School. The design by Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) features arched facades drawn from the local vernacular architecture and compelling interiors crafted from bricks produced in local kilns. Further, passive design principles guiding the architecture will provide optimal conditions for building occupants with minimal energy consumption.
Courtesy Norviska
The project, which celebrates Uzbek literature and Shashmaqom music traditions, will anchor a new 15,000-hectare cultural quarter within New Tashkent. The program will... More
News • News • 9 Jan 2024
Pikes Peak Summit Visitor Center takes a world-class visitor experience to new altitudes
An Archello Awards 2023 Finalist, the Pikes Peak Summit Visitor Center by GWWO Architects (design architect) and RTA Architects (architect of record) responds to its breathtaking surroundings by preserving viewsheds, treading lightly on the land, and emphasizing environmental protection. Situated in the grand mountains of Colorado at an elevation of 14,155 feet (4314 m), it is the highest visitor center in the world and, as such, required careful, meticulous design planning and execution.
Nic Lehoux
Inspired by Pikes Peak granite, the materiality of the Center evokes the crags and rock formations that can be found above the treeline. Key materials include natural stone alongside integrally colored concrete and weathering ste... More
News • News • 8 Dec 2022
Oaxaca's Plúmula offers a workshop, meeting place, refuge, and home centered around a celebrated Flamboyán tree
In the City of Oaxaca, this project by Espacio 18 Arquitectura sees the transformation of a delipidated house and existing structure into a workshop, meeting place, refuge, and the home of a Flamboyán tree. The name of the project – Plúmula – refers to a plant's initial shoot or stem.
Camila Cossio
The homeowner, a plastic artist, requested that pre-existing adobe walls be retained. Alongside this, a light steel structure supports new leisure spaces, a ceramics workshop, and a bedroom. The steel structure reinforces the existing system and allows for tall sliding windows. The Flamboyán tree is always the protagonist in the design, with key views focused on it.
Camila Cossio
A sense... More
Project • By Studiohuerta • Private Houses
Casa Escondida
Located off the desert coast of Los Cabos, Casa Escondida is a project of multiplicities. Mediating between complex and competing demands imposed by climate, program, and neighborhood regulations, the design overlays strategies of disguise and duality to construct the concept of a house within a house.
Roland Halbe
Roland Halbe
Roland Halbe
The discreet exterior displays a compliant structure, conforming to the requisite roof type, limited apertures, and stone cladding stipulated by community guidelines, while inside, architectural freedoms of form and materiality unfold. Carved out of the house’s conceptual massing, a composition of voids creates a second, protected exterior space; a courtyard covered by skylights tha... More
News • News • 15 Nov 2021
MCA and WASP complete the first eco-sustainable house 3d printed from raw earth
The first eco-sustainable house 3d printed from raw earth has been completed by MCA (Mario Cucinella Architects) and WASP (World’s Advanced Saving Project). Inspired by one of Italo Calvino’s ‘invisible cities’, the project combines the spirit of an ancient dwelling with 21st-century technological production.
Iago Corazza
Achieving near-zero emissions, the project’s use of entirely local materials allows for a reduction of waste and scraps. Together with the use of raw earth, TECLA is a pioneering example of low-carbon housing.
Iago Corazza
MCA explored the TECLA concept not only in terms of formal aesthetics, but also its relationship to its specific climate and latitude. Fu... More