lunes, 11 de mayo de 2015

The Prendiparte Tower

Imagine sleeping in a 900-year-old tower in the heart of a medieval town in Italy. You can fulfill this fantasy in Bologna, where the Prendiparte Tower, one of the few remaining towers in town, has been converted into a bed & breakfast consisting of one multi-level suite. It sleeps up to four people but it is generally reserved by couples, especially to celebrate an anniversary or a birthday or simply to spend aromantic night in a magical building suffused with history.
“It is a place that emphasizes feelings, that allows you to dream, to test the sensitivity of your partner, his or her attention to the peculiar, the historical, the beautiful,” saysthe tower’s owner, Matteo Giovanardi, a jovial Bolognese man who inherited the tower in 1972 from his father, who had bought it both to make an investment and to fulfill his passion for historical buildings. Giovanardi himself lived in the tower before transforming it into a B&B. “Living in such a place allows you to completely isolate yourself from the outside world, to really be alone with yourself. It amplifies your senses. Protected by the thick ancient walls, your emotions are more easily released.”

jueves, 7 de mayo de 2015

Peter Vetsch


Peter Vetsch attended public school in Sax, Switzerland, from 1950 to 1956. He then attended an agricultural school in Cernier until 1962, where he graduated. Afterwards he was an apprentice in structural design in Winterthur and worked for an architecture office in St. Gallen. In the following years, Vetsch attended the academy of arts in Düsseldorf, Germany, where he graduated in 1970. After his diploma he worked for architecture offices in Germany and Switzerland.

Peter Vetsch runs his own architecture office in Zurich (Switzerland). Since the late 70's, Peter Vetsch has made a name for himself with his earth house architecture. To date he has built over 90 earth houses in Switzerland and other countries throughout the world. Earth houses by Peter Vetsch are based on the interpretation of an environmentally conscious, ecological and progressive architecture. Next to the earth houses, Peter Vetsch also builds conventional houses. 


With his technology (sprayed concrete constructions) he manages to create building shells which encompass maximum space volume with a minimum of surface area, an ideal form for energy saving. These constructions eschew right angles and their spatial diversity overcomes the the monotony of traditional normed designs. They remind us of Antoni Gaudí's organic forms as well as Jugendstil architecture.  via erdhaus




miércoles, 6 de mayo de 2015

jueves, 23 de abril de 2015

miércoles, 22 de abril de 2015

viernes, 17 de abril de 2015

Salk Institute - Louis Kahn


jueves, 16 de abril de 2015

Maison Louis Carré / Alvar Aalto

Maison Louis Carré in Bazoches-sur-Guyonnes, France - Alvar Aalto.



miércoles, 15 de abril de 2015

martes, 14 de abril de 2015

Plaster Housing Projects / Mauritania

The Plaster Housing Projects in Nouakchott, Mauritania by L'Association pour Le Développement d'une Architecture Et d'un Urbanisme Africain [1977-1983]. The association wanted to create a cheap, fast, and effective solution for the acute housing shortage in the Mauritanian capital. The projects are made of basic gypsum plaster shaped into domed vaults. The gypsum was taken from the large gypsum dunes 40 km from the city already in the form of powder, thus being the cheapest building material available. While cheap, it is extremely effective in insulating the structures which is important considering the region is one of the hottest in the world. The construction allows for natural ventilation further cooling the interiors of the structures. Each of the units were so cost effective and affordable that they could be purchased in full by the many refugees seeking homes after both the dramatic cycle droughts and floods that constantly ravaged Mauritania from the 50’s through the 90’s.

jueves, 5 de marzo de 2015