Build it and they will come!

"TOILETOWA is an architecture of circulation and regeneration that makes this visible. More than just a toilet, it was built as an environmental education space attached to the headquarters of Ishizaka Corp in Oak Forest,  which recycles industrial waste and serves as a model for a future waste-free, recycling-oriented society."

"It is a wooden building consisting of a toilet building with a circular rammed earth wall made of recycled soil NS-10 developed by Ishizaka Corp and a tank building that shows the process of perfect recycling and circulating wastewater by combined fermentation of microorganisms. To reduce the environmental impact, the foundation is made of crushed stone instead of concrete. - Made using wooden stakes. With the theme of recycling in the materials used, the interior walls and earthen floors of the toilet building are made of almost recycled materials of soil, wood, and glass. The hand wash and toilet bowls are also made of recycled wood chips."

"Toilet wastewater is not only completely recycled and reused but also used as agricultural water to promote the growth of surrounding garden crops. Furthermore, by using natural materials around the building to ``regenerate the earth'' and allowing water and air to pass through the soil from the ground, the forest in the area has been regenerated, creating a refreshing air and atmosphere. The wooden construction was hand-carved by young carpenters, making use of plastering techniques such as rammed earth, plastered walls, hard-packed earthen floor, and mortar polishing counter, and not only the materials but also the circulation of traditional architectural techniques of wood and clay."

"Combined fermentation has been used in Japan for over 20 years, and here we aim to show the mechanism of water circulation in a sophisticated design as a showcase for the recycling society of the 21st century. While retaining the existing trees, the complex fermentation process of the fermentation layer, synthesis layer, and catalyst tank is arranged in an arc, expressing the circulation of water with raised beds (three-dimensional vegetable garden) facing a circular courtyard. To keep the overall scale down, the roof has a 2/10 slope on the courtyard side, and the tank can be seen by removing the blind door. The exterior wall is inspired by the Local landscape of the forest(Musashino’s Satoyama) and is made of prefecture-produced cedar boards of different widths pasted randomly. Wood Long Eco, a wood protectant derived from natural materials, is applied to each piece, and each piece changes to a different color as it ages with UV rays. Through the gaps between the boards, people can see sunlight filtering through the trees and see the actual forest, creating a landscape that blends in with the forest."

"The lower level connected to the garden is designed as a terrace, and table and bench are furnished there. By combining the slope of the ground and the slope of the roof, the ceiling height on the forest side is raised, so that the high trees can be looked up. In the evening, the cool breeze from the upper forest makes it a comfortable place in summer."

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"A residential project that preserves the trees on the site, bringing life to a courtyard that becomes the heart of the home. By gathering trees around a courtyard, the space transforms into a sort of Yucatecan jungle, and we are also creating green views for every interior space of the home. The house changes from morning to evening. The shadows and lighting shift, which helps to highlight different areas at different times of the day. The serene evening achieves a balance between the exterior and interior, in intimate communion with nature."

"All the buildings are constructed in clapboard, but the roof shapes differ depending on the program. The technical buildings are covered in corrugated iron, while the residential buildings are covered in straw to keep the interior cool. The Centre refers back to local building cultures, both in the technique used - clapboard - and in its form, adapting the courtyard logic of royal houses and palaces while asserting its contemporary character.  All the materials, with the exception of the concrete used for the slabs and foundations, were sourced from around the village. All are within a radius of around thirty kilometers. So, a whole local economy has been generated. This proximity has reduced the economic and environmental costs of transport."

"The design integrates local materials and craftsmanship with international building standards, requiring innovative solutions to merge tradition with technology. The campus layout considers existing environmental conditions, including scars from recent construction and grazing damage. Despite initial challenges, the architects strategically placed the buildings within these scars, preserving the surrounding pristine landscape.

Drawing inspiration from local building traditions, the project employs communal construction methods, where villagers work together using techniques passed down through generations. Traditional materials like stone, rammed earth, and timber are combined with modern elements to create a harmonious blend of old and new."

"In the garden, the project constructs a detached extension housing an additional bedroom in the form of a cabin raised on stilts amidst pine and cork oak trees. The project has a very low impact on the vegetation and pre-existing soil before the works thanks to the construction method employed (glued laminated timber frames founded on screw piles)."

In almost all cities World over, you will find gigantic parcels of land which need to be redeveloped. This is one such example and see the difference when you have a renowned Firm undertaking the transformation.

"The materiality of concrete and the regional stone slab 'gray san andrés', along with the selected tones for the rest of the elements, create a somewhat cold, modern atmosphere that, when combined with the green of the garden, the warmth of the furniture, and natural light, compose a pleasant and extremely relaxing space for the user."

Once in a while will you come across a project like this. This is magnificent. The Aquarium is supposed to feel like a flooded ruin and sure does a good job at it. Please have a look in detail :-)

"For a structure of its scale—a total built area of 186,000 square feet with walls reaching 74 feet in height—the new aquarium is strikingly isolated from the surrounding urban landscape. It’s enclosed on all sides. A busy road flanks its fenced eastern edge, and its form is hidden from the south by various constructions, including the old aquarium building. It’s also cut off from Mazatlán’s prized waterfront to the west both visually and physically—a newly sanitized lagoon separates it from a string of speculative high-rises along the beach. Most perplexing is the new aquarium’s lack of integration with the park to the north, especially considering Bilbao’s involvement.

Once it does appear, the aquarium is a captivating sight, mysterious, strikingly uncontemporary, and severe in its bunker-like massing. Even though there’s an elegance to the vertically staggered, 3-foot-wide slabs of concrete that define it, this is a willful composition that resists easy categorization or comprehension. In fact, the aquarium’s most striking vista is not of one of its elevations—none of which is particularly legible—but its plan. Seen from above, the building appears as a gridded system whose intersecting walls form a series of round and rectangular chambers. Beyond its forceful form, the building’s most indelible feature is the concrete’s mauve shading, part of an effort by the architects to temper the rigorous rectilinearity and stark tectonics."

A garden is just the substratum over which any object can be displayed or activity can be performed. This project clearly highlights this.

As the culture changes so do the spaces. We can clearly see that the shift has happened from brutalist sterile Office buildings to verdant office spaces that inevitably boosts productivity.

Come and see our Office if you please!

"The hall, the most distinctive feature of this house, was intended to be a space that gently envelops time with family and close friends without feeling cramped in a house close to the outside. The hall has a moderately centripetal plane that creates a sense of harmony and a large dome-shaped volume that ensures a cozy atmosphere even when people gather together, giving the space a sense of inclusiveness. In contrast to the completely private space on the second floor, the first floor has a semi-public atmosphere, even though it is a house, creating a sense of change and depth within the narrow box. The tiled floor, the dining table that resembles a terrace in an alley, the balcony-like landing that protrudes into the atrium, and the slightly austere atmosphere created by the dome and symbolic top light all work together to create the atmosphere of the ground floor."

After having a look at this installation and the photos of the adjoining garden, I am sure that this private garden has a lot of daily effort put into it. I am always intrigued by private gardens that hardly anyone gets to see. They have a lot of character and usually the owners put in a lot of effort by themselves.

"Visiting this chapel is a ceremonial procession of the body, mind, and spirit. A winding path takes visitors from the campus, up the hill, and around beautiful plantings. Visitors can choose to rest at one of three outdoor garden prayer areas, under a preserved tea tree, or enter the chapel. The chapel’s entry plays with scale to enhance the progression from exterior to interior.

Visitors are brought in through a large open entry that compresses down at the doorway, spatially hugging the visitor to create a sense of comfort. Continuing through to the prayer area, the space dramatically opens and lifts, elevating one’s gaze to a suspended woven wooden nest that encapsulates the interior- an architectural expression of Christ’s crown of thorns."

"A geometric reed roof gives the Reethaus both its name and identifiable form: the massing is a result of the building’s internal demands for rich acoustics and the “temple-like” qualities Gogl envisioned. The architect cited Mexico City’s Museo Tamayo, designed in 1972 by Teodoro González de León and Abraham Zabludovsky as a reference point for how the building’s internal and external areas connect. Reethaus’s concrete walls wrap the central reed form as a series of planted, stepped terraces, each packed with rainwater-retaining volcanic rocks to support a planting scheme that, once mature, will soften the building into its surrounding site. “It was clear that with this site I had to work like a landscaper,” Gogl said.

As an act of landscape architecture, the whole building is sunken into the ground, reducing its visual impact and providing a sense of withdrawn intimacy. A wide picture window offers a panoramic vista of the Spree, while an internal planted courtyard brings natural light to an open circulatory space that wraps the central atrium."

Excellent woodwork makes this hoe from Brazil a standout project. The roof is magnificent.