Saint Francis de Sales Church, by Marcel Breuer, 1966 - in Muskegon, Michigan, USA
Known for his curving Brutalist forms, Breuer employed a hyperbolic paraboloid with angled openings for function daylighting. A massive cross relief sits below a cantilevered belfry.
Casa do Conto (House of Tales), by Pedra Líquida, 2008-09 - in Rua da Boavista, 713, Porto, Portugal
Casa do Conto embodies a unique story of life, which is, after all, the history of the city itself. The House highlights Oporto’s XIX century domestic architecture, solemn and vertical, carved by the scars of a time that mediates its decline and rebirth, the memory of the past and the desire for the future, the granite stone of the old facades and the new concrete of staircases and ceilings. It is, indeed, a kind of “fossil architecture” that comes to life.
Graved by various texts, in low relief, covering six separate rooms, these ceilings narrate the changes undergone by the concept of “house” and of this house in particular.
Two Houses in Santa Isabel, by Bak Gordon, 2010 - in Rua Saraiva de Carvalho, Lisboa, Portugal
House Bom Jesus, by Eduardo Souto Moura, 1989-94- in Braga, Portugal.
The house in the town of Bom Jesus expresses the architect’s exploration of the relation between modernism and landscape. The building’s pure, concrete exterior surfaces are eloquently embellished with a subtle horizontal and vertical pattern resulting from the banding of the concrete surfaces.
Outside In House, by Takeshi Hosaka architects, - in Fijiyoshida, Yamanashi, Japan
This is a house for a couple and their three daughters.
”I looked for how the residents here could live in harmony with such nature and climate even in a crowded residential area.
I planned a structure in which nature is horizontally and vertically incorporated as an integral part of the design of the structure to create a gradation from the outside area to the inside areas. To put it concretely, the open shed lies facing the south, which makes it possible for the residents to feel as if they were in one room, filled with a sense of unity with the wooden area.”
Maryhill Overlook, by Allied Works Architecture, 1998 - in Goldendale, Washington, USA
The Maryhill Overlook lies on a bluff above the Columbia River Gorge within a vast landscape of barren grasslands marked by basalt scarps—a harsh environment exposed to extreme weather and dramatic swings of light.
A single concrete slab emerges from the earth, rising and falling as it moves to the edge of the cliffs. Along its length are eight volumes that open and close to the sky. From a distance the form dissolves and reemerges as line or plane in response to the quality of light and changing point of view. Drawing closer, held in the hollow wall, the surfaces are cut by a datum that establishes a specific reference to the surrounding landscape.
This mid-terrace house in Ireland has been extensively refurbished into a contemporary live/work space. The new structure was conceived as a simple form which connects at ground level with the existing house. The tight site and strict planning constraints defined the form of the new extension from an early stage.
House in Pedrogão, by Phyd Arquitectura, 2008 - in Torres Novas, Portugal
The monolithic House in Pedrogão is made from concrete and has a glazed facade that provides residents with a panoramic view of the surroundings.
The house sits upon the rear of a timber-covered plinth, which has a swimming pool at the opposite end.
Behind the front living area are enclosed rooms that include a kitchen, two bathrooms, a bedroom and a study.
Meditation Space for UNESCO, by Tadao Ando, 1995 - Paris, France
It was built in concrete, Ando classic material in his creations, free and wall decorations, which reflects the idea of pure and simple.
Rokko Housing I, by Tadao Ando, 1981-83 - in Kobe, Hyogo,Japan
This complex is wedged into a restricted site on a south-facing 60 degrees slope. Each of the 20 units is 5,4 x 4,8 m in size, and each has a terrace looking out towards the bush harbour of Kobe. Why was this monumental resident building so successful ?
“I think architecture becomes interesting when it has a double character, that is, when it is as simple as possible but, at the same time as complex as possible.” Tadao Ando
