The climate crisis has meant a return to the principles of traditional construction and the use of passive systems, with the purpose of achieving maximum comfort with a minimum environmental impact using strategies such as solar orientation, form fac

Luis Fernández-Galiano   Las bicicletas y las casas son para el verano. Los números de casas se publican coincidiendo con la buena estación, porque solo el clima benévolo es compatible con el disfrute cabal de la vivienda unifamiliar. La promesa de felicidad incorporada en l

PAT. architetti associati, Ferdinando Fagnola   Kenya   Manda island in Kenya belongs to the Lamu Archipelago – cradle of the Swahili culture. The island was abandoned in the 19th century for lack of freshwater, and recovered in the late 20th as an eco-tourism destination. The brief for Falcon House aske

Sher Maker   Thailand   Inspired by the vernacular architecture of northern Thailand, the project for a quiet cabin for travelers is conceived as a simple wooden structure closed on three of its sides for greater privacy, leaving only one side open to the greenery. The owne

Natura Futura Arquitectura, Juan Carlos Bamba   Ecuador   For centuries the floating houses of the river Babahoyo were the main places for sorting, storing, and resting along the trade route between the Ecuadorian cities of Guayaquil and Quito. When river ceased to be a commercial path, the structures afloa

Xavier Vendrell, Mary English   United States   In Lavaca, one of the oldest neighborhoods of San Antonio, this dwelling had to comply with historic design guidelines that required a front porch, specific roof profiles, window proportions, and certain materials. The 183-square-meter building prese

Selgascano, Diego Cano-Lasso   United States   In Mount Washington, a suburb in the hills of northeast Los Angeles, this house with impressive views of downtown LA adapts to the very steep lot it sits on, which faces southwest, making it necessary to shield the house against strong sunlight. Tube

Robert Hutchison Architecture, JSa   Mexico   Three structures clad in burnt wood are connected by pathways in a mountainous landscape: the actual house (1,200 square meters), a bathhouse with perimetral spaces that include a hot bath, a sauna, and a steam shower, surrounded by a swimming pool (

Equipo de Arquitectura    Paraguay   The design of this home for a young couple reduces architecture to the minimum elements, concisely and efficiently, through the scale of the project, the proportions of the pieces, and the materials used. With a built area of 195 square meters, the

Agustín Berzero, Manuel González Veglia (TECTUM)   Argentina   Anchored to a very steep slope, the house is built with rough-hewn concrete and presents an interplay of complementary opposites. Raised over the natural topography on columns, the heavy volume is crowned with an open deck, a lookout-roof that serves

Iván Bravo   Chile   Project carried out by Iván Bravo together with Martín Rojas (associate architect), in collaboration with Juan Oyarzún. “To avoid being tied up / Let nothing unite us.” These verses from Pablo Neruda’s poem Farewell were proud thoughts of a couple th

Wiki World , Advanced Architecture Lab [AaL]   China   This cabin is located in Jiangxia District, in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, and is part of a plan to build a series of unique homes embedded in nature. It is a simple cabin, resembling a container in an intense blue color, hidden in the forest and loc

Ripoll Tizón Estudio de Arquitectura   Spain   With breathtaking views of the bay of Palma, this terraced house is located in the upper part of the plot, adapting to the sloping topography of the land through different levels. Three courtyards are introduced in the facade as transitional spaces b

Eduardo Souto de Moura   Portugal   The project recovers the granite ruins of an old construction and renews them, adding a few adjustments in the openings, to comply with the program. Inside, another brick house is clad in granite walls, already treated. The pavement is made of the sa

Pankowska & Rohrhofer   Poland   House Wolin was built as a holiday retreat embedded in the pastoral landscape of Poland’s Baltic Sea coast, an area of mild and humid winters and fresh summers with lots of rain. The house has three levels, each one with its own features. The ground

Bearth & Deplazes   Switzerland   The project starts from a conflict of interests: the budget, very limited, was enough for a duplex house with a studio. However, the void in the village called for a larger building. The first step is to divide the program into ‘expensive’ and ‘chea

Erling Berg   Norway   The house is nestled in the landscape on the top of Kvitfjell (Norwegian for ‘White Mountain’), in the south-center of the country, some 45 minutes north of Lillehammer. Built for a family with a passion for skiing, it is designed mainly to withstand