Local studio Bloco Arquitetos has completed a house in Brasília surrounded by brick screens and wide entry portals that open up the central courtyard to the exterior.

Known as Casa Tupin, the 420-square-metre (4,520-square-foot) residence is rectangular with a large central courtyard.

The 2025 house, set in a gated community 20 kilometres from Brasília, was designed to integrate the interior and exterior with the courtyard, which functions as both the leisure space and the connective core of the home.

"A house without windows, that is a window itself – rather than opening punctual views, the project seeks to transform the entire architectural body into a mediator between interior life and the surrounding landscape," Bloco Arquitetos told Dezeen.

"This approach results in a building that engages the environment through performance rather than transparency," the studio said.

Instead of large expanses of glazing, the vertical planes between the raised concrete slab and deep roof structure are coral-coloured brick – arranged as solid walls or breeze block-like screen – wrapping the house in texture and filtered light.

Selected for durability and composition consistency, the brick and concrete protect the interior from excessive heat. The restrained palette allows light, shadow and time to become part of the architecture, the studio explained.

"This porous facade acts simultaneously as solar protection and as a permanent ventilation filter, allowing air to flow in all directions throughout the house," the studio said.

"All spaces are organized in relation to this system, which integrates structure, climate control and spatial experience into a single architectural strategy."

The circulation, living spaces and private areas are arranged to maximise cross ventilation and the idea of the house as a continuous architectural experience that follows the structural logic of the design.

Supported on 12 pillars, three-quarters of the plan is elevated above the ground to pull natural ventilation beneath the house, preserve the existing topography and allow the native plants of the Brazilian savana – or Cerrado – to grow beneath the residence.

"This elevation also allows the native small animals from Cerrado – mostly lizards and burrowing owls – to move freely between the outside garden and the inner courtyard," the studio said, noting that the layout also allowed for the preservation of an existing tree at the centre of the courtyard.

Suspending the house and detaching it from the ground helped the designers connect the spatial concept with the environmental goals.

"This structural clarity allowed the building to appear both stable and light, reinforcing the idea of elevation as an architectural and environmental strategy," the studio said.

"Another key achievement was reversing the perception of transparency – although the house appears closed and opaque from the outside, the interior is open, fluid and visually expansive."

Other recent residential projects that use screens for ventilation include the renovation of a Puerto Rican home by Paul Raff and a woven timber home in Goa, India, by Field Atelier.

The photography is by Joana França.

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Terracotta screens and lush courtyards feature at Villa Brisana, a house in San Juan, Puerto Rico, that has been overhauled and expanded by Canada's Paul Raff Studio.

Located on the country's northern coast, the house sits within an exclusive enclave known as Dorado Beach. The owners are a family of four.

The home was originally built in 2001 and totalled 3,380 square feet (314 square metres).

For the building's overhaul, Toronto-based Paul Raff Studio set out to create more space, a stronger connection to nature, and better responsiveness to the tropical climate.

A guiding principle was to blend "local, Caribbean traditions with modern ingenuity".

"Materials and construction methods reflect the region's architectural roots," the team said.

The team added a wing to contain an enlarged primary suite, bringing the home's size up to 4,145 square feet (385 square metres). The home is now U-shaped in plan, with an adjoining garage.

Exterior walls are covered in a combination of whitewashed stucco and terracotta clay tiles. The tiles form "solar screens" that range from 18 to 32 feet (5.5 to 9.8 metres) in length.

"Featuring scalloped cut-outs, the screens mitigate sun glare, provide privacy and add intriguing depth," the studio said.

"At night, with interior lights on, the screens cast intricate shadows, giving the home a lantern-like glow."

The interior features a division between public and private areas.

One side contains the communal zone – a kitchen and dining area, along with a living room flanked by a solarium and a kids' playroom. The other side of the dwelling holds the bedrooms.

The renovation project focused on improving flow and functionality within the home.

Walls between the den and kitchen were removed to form a larger space for entertaining. Peaked parts of the roof were exposed to create rooms with high ceilings.

In the living room, a 17-foot-high (five-metre) ceiling allows for tall walls to be used as surfaces for film projections.

A new clerestory in the kitchen brings in soft, natural light and "echoes the verticality of the pitched living room ceiling".

In the backyard, there is a swimming pool that extends alongside the primary bedroom.

There are also a number of lush gardens, some of which occupy space between the terracotta screens and the home's exterior walls.

The house features 11 doors leading to the outdoors, ensuring the connection to nature was "omnipresent".

"We wanted the house to feel like an extension of the landscape," said studio founder Paul Raff.

The project's sustainable elements include the reuse of the original home's structure and passive cooling techniques, such as orienting the home to maximise natural breezes.

Villa Brisana is meant to exemplify "thoughtful, high-quality design" within a tropical setting.

"The renovation elevates the region's architectural standard, setting a benchmark for luxury, sustainability and seamless indoor-outdoor living," the team said.

Other projects by Paul Raff Studio include two homes in Toronto – one with a mirrored staircase that creates a kaleidoscopic effect, and the other featuring flamed basalt stone cladding and an aluminium brise-soleil.

The photography is by Michael Stavaridis.

Project credits:

Architecture and interior design: Paul Raff Studio
Architecture/design team: Paul Raff, Alex Morassut, Steve Socha, Kate Bennett, Kristine Kim
Structural engineer: Doris J Quinõnes Rivera Structural Engineering Consultants
Mechanical engineer: RAP Consulting Engineer
General contractor: VML & Asociados
Steel fabricator: Steelway Group
Landscape consultant: Sigfredo E Faria-Vega
Landscape contractor: PRGD Landscape Designer + Contractor

The post Paul Raff taps into Puerto Rico's "architectural roots" for house renovation appeared first on Dezeen.

Exposed blockwork walls are contrasted by screens of lightweight steel and blackened timber at SKI House in Wānaka, New Zealand, created by local studio Roberts Gray Architects.

Overlooking the nearby mountains, the house is designed for the parents of studio co-founder James Gray, who have lived next to the site for over two decades.

This led to the home being given the playful name of SKI House, which is an acronym for "spending kids' inheritance", while also nodding to the area's famous ski resorts.

Described by Roberts Gray Architects as an "urban sanctuary", the home presents an abstract, blocky facade to the street, but opens up to reveal a courtyard garden and panoramic mountain views framed by solid walls and openable screens.

"The project presents itself as a series of solid geometric forms, thoughtfully arranged to establish a balance between openness and enclosure," the studio told Dezeen.

"These forms are tied together by a lightweight screen system, courtyards and carefully placed openings – creating dynamic interplays of light and shadow within," it added. "The outcome is an urban sanctuary amidst Wānaka's dynamic landscape, inviting the next generation to enjoy it into the future."

SKI House's black screens, made from steel and charred timber, conceal both a garage and an entrance door facing the street.

They extend into the site to wrap a large courtyard, before opening out onto a rear garden.

Alongside the central living area, these screens create a double skin, with a barbecue veranda positioned between an inner layer of sliding glass doors and an outer layer of sliding charred timber screens.

Contrasting these slatted and glazed areas are the home's exposed blockwork walls, teamed with stone paving in the living area and built-in storage in the kitchen.

"The pairing of materials is deliberate and thoughtful," said the studio. "For instance, galvanised steel is paired with blockwork as the tonality and weathering of the two are homogeneous."

"Blackened steel, prone to surface rust, finds synergy with charred cedar," it added. "The similarity in grain structure between Japanese cedar and American oak, a softwood paired with a hardwood, demonstrates consideration of both aesthetics and practicality."

A corridor that can be completely opened to the central courtyard via sliding glass screens connects to the home's two ground-floor bedrooms. Each of these leads to a private courtyard and has access to a central bathroom with an outdoor shower.

On the small first floor, a single additional bedroom extends into a tall blockwork volume, with a desk positioned to enjoy panoramic views of the mountains.

Other residential projects in New Zealand recently published on Dezeen include a towering extension that mimics a treehouse and a holiday lodge wrapped in a skin of corrugated polycarbonate.

SKI House was featured in a video produced by Dezeen for appliance brand Fisher & Paykel, which provided the home's kitchen fittings.

The photography is courtesy of Roberts Gray Architects.

The post Roberts Gray Architects marries blockwork and charred timber for New Zealand home appeared first on Dezeen.

Local studio Field Atelier has completed a breezy home near Goa, India, which is wrapped by verandas sheltered by sliding timber screens and folding metal doors.

Named House in Corjeum after the village in which it is located, the home is organised around a central courtyard with an existing cluster of trees and a stone well.

It is elevated on a concrete plinth to mitigate the risk of flooding during the monsoon season, while verandas, sheltered by woven timber screens and metal-framed mosquito nets, encircle the house to provide natural light and air.

"The house is envisaged as a collection of verandas, each expandable in its nature to absorb functions," Field Atelier's project architect Teja Amonkar told Dezeen.

"The constant awareness of the exterior landscape seen through various apertures is what provides one with moments of intrigue as one traverses through the different spaces," added fellow project architect Yatin Fulari.

"The house is therefore imagined as a pavilion or a stage to view the gardens and its seasonal unfolding," Fulari added.

Accessed via the western wing of the home's U-shaped plan, the entrance route is formed by a long veranda overlooking the courtyard, which passes the main bedroom to spill out into the central living and dining space.

This large living area opens onto the courtyard via folding metal doors and onto an additional south-facing veranda through sliding glass and metal doors. Here, an outdoor dining space is situated beneath an overhanging section of the roof.

A kitchen, utility room and bathroom are tucked away on either side of this open central space, alongside a staircase leading up to a smaller first floor where there is an additional bedroom, bathroom and lounge.

In the home's eastern wing, a slightly sunken study enjoys a more private relationship to the garden through folding wooden shutters. A large door looks north towards a small, standalone guest annexe.

"The living and dining area, along with the deep veranda in the south, form a seamless space connecting the entire site," Amonkar explained.

"The perpetual accessibility to the ground allows the house to behave as a thoroughfare rather than a culmination," he added. "The utilitarian spaces are planned along the passage, allowing life to take place in the 'in between spaces'."

High ceilings accommodate a strip of wooden louvres beneath the home's overhanging metal roof, helping to naturally ventilate the home and cast natural light across the dark timber ceilings.

A finish of rough lime plaster is used both inside and out, covering a steel-framed structure infilled with hollow clay blocks.

Field Atelier is based in Panaji, Goa, and was founded by Fulari and Amonkar in 2015.

Elsewhere in Goa, Indian practice Grounded recently updated a 160-year-old Portuguese-style home and Architecture Discipline created India's first mass-timber home.

The photography is by Shantanu Starick.

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Dezeen Showroom: designer Rafa Ortega worked with Kriskadecor to adapt the Spanish brand's signature aluminium ceiling chains into a room divider system, adding decorative and acoustic elements.

The Khronos divider system intersperses Kriskadecor's fine hanging chains with decorative components made out of recycled PET plastic.

In addition to adding visual interest, these help to improve acoustic performance and absorb background noise within a space.

"Each installation achieves a perfect balance between aesthetic beauty and acoustic performance, offering an immersive experience that invites pause and immersion in a harmony of emotions," said Kriskadecor.

There are six different designs in the Khronos range, which Ortega and Kriskadecor have grouped into two streams: Sòlid and Líquid.

Solid features three variations – Boho, Rosella, Metropolis – inspired by architecture, cities and flowers, while the Liquid series' Peixos, Mantarraya and Meduses convey more dynamism and ephemerality with designs influenced by water and wind.

As with all of Kriskadecor's products, the Khronos system is fully customisable in terms of size and colour.

Product details:

Product: Khronos divider system
Designer: Rafa Ortega
Brand: Kriskadecor
Contact: info@kriskadecor.com

Materials: aluminium chains, 100 per cent recycled PET
Colours/finishes: Boho, Rosella, Metropolis, Peixos, Mantarraya and Meduses

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The post Khronos divider system by Rafa Ortega for Kriskadecor appeared first on Dezeen.

Dezeen Showroom: Thai brand Rocco Decoration worked with designer Kamonwan Yongpanit on a screen that mimics the look of sunlight filtering through louvred shutters.

Designed for windowless areas, the Morgen screen is a lightweight wall panel comprising backlit angled slats that look like semi-open louvres.

The integrated light source makes it look like the sun is gently shining through them into the space beyond.

"Research indicates that natural light promotes relaxation and reduces stress," said Rocco Decoration. "However, its inconsistency and limited access indoors pose challenges."

"Morgen addresses this by designing wall decorations that emulate sinlight through louvres, allowing everyone to enjoy its benefits within buildings," the brand continued.

The Morgen panels are made of polystyrene plastic with a choice of surface finishes ranging from different types of wood to marble.

Product details:

Product: Morgen
Designer: Kamonwan Yongpanit
Brand: Rocco Decoration
Contact: rd.sunwu@gmail.com

Material: polystyrene
Colours/finishes: White Marble, Black Marble, Cinder, Teak, Dark Oak, Marple, Ash, Grey Marple
Dimensions: 100 x 3000 x 47 millimetres

Dezeen Showroom

Dezeen Showroom offers an affordable space for brands to launch new products and showcase their designers and projects to Dezeen's huge global audience. For more details email showroom@dezeen.com.

Dezeen Showroom is an example of partnership content on Dezeen. Find out more about partnership content here.

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The post Morgen screen by Kamonwan Yongpanit for Rocco Decoration appeared first on Dezeen.

Dezeen Showroom: a retractable room divider made up of lengths of conjoined geometric scales has been designed by Rafa Ortega for Swiss brand Impact Acoustics.

Attached to a ceiling-mounted rail, Pixels room dividers comprise vertical sequences of hexagonal felt shaped, which can be adjusted in a similar way to vertical blinds.

The geometric cut-out patterns create a play of light and shadow while also allowing the degree of visual and acoustic privacy to be fine-tuned.

Made of Archisonic acoustic felt fabric, Pixels comes in a choice of four different designs – Square, Hex, Drop and Plain – and a choice of 36 colours.

The material – made from 60 per cent certified post-consumer recycled content – not only offers sound absorption but also enhances light diffusion and glare control, according to Impact Acoustics.

"Pixels empowers users to shape their environment in real time, balancing openness with intimacy," said the brand.

"Whether enhancing concentration or encouraging interaction, it adapts seamlessly to evolving needs, making it a powerful tool for dynamic, human-centered design."

Product details:

Product: Pixels
Designer: Rafa Ortega
Brand: Impact Acoustics
Contact: connect@impactacoustic.com

Materials: Archisonic PET felt, steel
Colours/finishes: 36 colours
Dimensions: 1250 x 12 x 2821 millimetres

Dezeen Showroom

Dezeen Showroom offers an affordable space for brands to launch new products and showcase their designers and projects to Dezeen's huge global audience. For more details email showroom@dezeen.com.

Dezeen Showroom is an example of partnership content on Dezeen. Find out more about partnership content here.

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The post Pixels room divider by Rafa Ortega for Impact Acoustics appeared first on Dezeen.

Architecture practice Studio Gang has created an academic building at Spelman College in Atlanta encased in red metal screens that references the geology of the state of Georgia.

The first new academic building at Spelman College in 25 years, the Mary Schmidt Campbell Center for Innovation & the Arts contains arts and STEM programming for the historically Black women's college.

The 7,660 metre (82,500 square foot) building is square in plan, with a double-height space that dips into its centre. Studios, labs and galleries for disciplines such as dance, music and photography encircle the central space.

The exterior is encased in metal screens, tinted a dusty red to pay homage to the colour of the local soil and the brick buildings of the surrounding academic buildings, according to Studio Gang.

A long elevated walkway leads to the building's entrance on one side, while the other sides are accessed on ground level.

"The building features a distinctive facade, whose materiality and color draw from regional geology and Spelman's architectural tradition," said the studio.

"Flemish bonded brick, which is seen across the campus and whose color recalls Georgia's red clay soil, is used on the ground level, while flat metal panels on the upper volume give the building a contemporary character that reflects the innovation happening there."

This facade also provides sun protection, with the screens acting as brise soleils "tuned to the angles of the sun".

The ground level is slightly recessed and is covered by the volume of the upper levels. It contains gathering spaces, such as a lobby and theatres, while the upper levels contain smaller classrooms and workspaces.

Some spaces, such as labs, are surrounded by broad windows, while other, quieter classrooms contain clerestory windows.

The central double-height space, called the Forum, is capped with a wedge-shaped skylight that brings light into the interior of the building and also creates an illuminated, central hub.

Studio Gang organised the interior to foster collaboration across disciplines, according to founder Jeanne Gang.

"The Center for Innovation & the Arts is designed to welcome a mix of people and ideas from across the campus and community," she said. "Flexible spaces for learning and gathering throughout the building make it a place where collaboration can thrive."

The building is the first to be located just outside the college's gates, and faces the neighbouring Morehouse College, a historically Black men's college.

According to Studio Gang, the project is intended to "find synergies" between Spelman College and the surrounding community.

"We wanted the building to create new connections between disciplines, and to help find synergies between Spelman and the broader neighborhood," said Gang.

The studio recently converted a tobacco warehouse into design studios for the University of Kentucky's College of Design and completed a mass-timber academic building in Paris.

The photography is by Tom Harris unless otherwise stated. 

The post Studio Gang encases Atlanta academic building in metal screens appeared first on Dezeen.

Dezeen Showroom: with a fluted design and soothing colour options, the Calm privacy screens by Union Design for KFI Studios provide a flexible divider for contemporary workplaces.

Calm is a modular system of privacy screens that can be moved and adapted within dynamic office environments to create nooks, workstations and breakout areas as needed.

There are three shapes of screen in the system – straight, curved, and straight with one rounded side – and, to build these into bespoke configurations, six different types of steel joining brackets: L-shaped, U-shaped, T-shaped, Zigzag, Star and Straight.

"Today's hybrid work model is typically synonymous with hot desks and modular furniture solutions," said KFI Studios CEO Chris Smith. "This ever-evolving working landscape means less quiet time and personal space. Our new Calm screens provide personalised privacy wherever needed."

The Calm screens are made from recycled plastic felt in neutral colours and come with weighted black bases made of steel.

KFI Studio says the screens make an excellent complement to its office furniture designs, including the Conversa modular lounge and Dotti lounge.

Product details:

Product: Calm privacy screens
Designer: Union Design
Brand: KFI Studios
Contact: sales@kfistudios.com

Material: PET felt and steel
Colours/finishes: Charcoal, Cool Grey, Stone
Dimensions: 900 x 24 x 1500 millimetres (straight screen)

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Dezeen Showroom offers an affordable space for brands to launch new products and showcase their designers and projects to Dezeen's huge global audience. For more details email showroom@dezeen.com.

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A screen of bamboo shelters diners at the Nhà Tú Garden Restaurant in Vietnam, which has been completed by architecture studio Long Nguyen Design.

Located in the city of Dong Nai, the restaurant stands on a stretch of green space that separates a residential area from a nearby industrial park.

Long Nguyen Design described its design for the restaurant as creating a "garden within a garden", with dining spaces organised around a lush courtyard at the building's centre.

"The project is strategically positioned between the industrial park and the residential area, serving as both a transition zone and a green focal point for the surroundings," the studio told Dezeen.

"The culmination of this design is the central garden, which offers a serene atmosphere and promotes a sense of relaxation and healing," it added.

Entering via an arch-like opening in the restaurant's bamboo screen, the main dining space sits around a garden courtyard, which is open to the elements and surrounded by a glass wall incorporating sliding doors.

Between the glazed facade and the outer bamboo screen, a "buffer zone" of outdoor seating overlooks a narrow infinity pool on the building's northern edge.

To the south the kitchen sits alongside a VIP room, which has rotating glass doors to allow it to be easily reconfigured and subdivided.

"The strategic placement of buffer zones – such as corridors, hallways, and voids – serves to mitigate the thermal effects of solar radiation, thereby cooling the interior spaces," said the studio.

"This, in conjunction with the window system in the VIP rooms and strategically placed doors, facilitates natural air convection throughout the building, introducing cooled, fresh air into the interior environment."

Nhà Tú Garden was built using a prefabricated steel structure, which has then been finished with a variety of handcrafted and textured finishes, in an approach Long Nguyen Design described as "merging modernity with tradition."

The ceilings were lined with handcrafted bamboo panels, and the internal walls have been given a deep terracotta-coloured textured finish.

The floors were created using traditional cement techniques, and were then given a subtly textured finish using brooms and trowels.

"The project has been executed with meticulous attention to detail, ensuring that every element is carefully considered," said the studio.

"This not only creates a serene ambiance but also serves to promote the national culture to each diner.

Other projects in Vietnam recently featured on Dezeen include a home in Hue by Studio Vio, which incorporated traditional materials and lush garden spaces.

The photography is by Hiroyuki Oki.

The post Long Nguyen Design wraps Vietnam restaurant in bamboo screen appeared first on Dezeen.

Chinese architecture studio Neri&Hu has completed a residential building in Taiwan that features a gridded facade filled with inverted-arch screens.

Located on a former US military base in Taipei, the apartment block is intended to echo the community feel and slower pace of life in the district, contrasting the city's bustling commercial areas.

It is also designed to have an ageless aesthetic that complements the surrounding low-rise buildings, which date back to the 1970s and feature traditional arcades, Neri&Hu said.

"In this context of Taipei and Zhishan, our design intent for a high-end residential building was to embody a timeless aesthetic through the use of tectonic forms and tactile materials," explained the studio.

A grid of columns and beams clad in light grey granite defines the main structure of the housing block, with recessed corner details that help to visually soften it.

On its north corner, the 56-metre-tall building presents a sharp edge to the street. This juxtaposes the softer south side of the building, which gradually steps backwards.

Bronze-toned metal screens in the form of inverted arches are dotted across the gridded facade, enclosing the balconies of each apartment. According to the Chinese studio, these take cues from screens used on top of windows in old buildings throughout Taiwan.

"The two opposing elements of structure and screen are working in harmony to achieve a delicate balance between masculine and feminine, historic and modern, cool and warm, rational and expressive," said the studio.

The arched motif continues through to the interiors, where visitors are greeted by an arched double-height space containing a reception, lobby and lounge clad in grey terrazzo.

A small library on the first floor opens up to the lounge through a wide arching window, which references the arcades found in old Taiwanese buildings.

From the second floor upwards, apartments are arranged around a lift lobby at the centre of the building. There are a total of 38 apartments ranging in size from two beds to four beds.

Throughout the public areas, custom-made lighting and furniture pieces with the same bronze hue as the facade screens are complemented with walnut details.

On the rooftop is a gym, an outdoor kitchenette and an events area, alongside small seating nooks, a yoga platform and a pet area. These are all surrounded by green plants and offer views of the city and towards the nearby Yangming mountain.

Neri&Hu was founded by architects Lyndon Neri and Rossana Hu in 2006 in Shanghai.

The studio has also recently completed a "wooden hut" and "cave-dwelling" interiors for two Shanghai stores and a contemporary art gallery.

The photography is by Studio Millspace.

Project credits:

Partners-in-charge: Lyndon Neri, Rossana Hu
Associate director-in-charge: Nellie Yang
Design team: Michael Yang, Rosie Tseng, Yin Sheng, Greg Wu, Ellen Chen, Jerry Guo, Chaofu Yeh, Lili Cheng, Becky Zhang
FFE: Design Republic
Local architect of record: CT Chen & Partners
Construction: Continental Engineering Corporation

The post Neri&Hu animates gridded Taipei apartment block with arched screens appeared first on Dezeen.

The latest edition of our Dezeen Debate newsletter features a home surrounded by concrete blocks by design studio Nendo. Subscribe to Dezeen Debate now.

Design studio Nendo has completed a home in Japan that has a triangular form and is enclosed in walls made out of concrete blocks.

Commenters discussed the home, with one asking "Why does this house in the middle of nowhere – need such brutal privacy screens in the first place?" Another thought the home would be better suited "in an urban environment".

Other stories in this week's newsletter that fired up the comments section include Moreau Kusunoki Architectes and Frida Escobedo Studios' plans to renovate the Centre Pompidou in Paris, Kanye West's decision to strip the interior of a Malibu home designed by Tadao Ando and a performing arts centre in Uganda by Hassell and Localworks.

Dezeen Debate

Dezeen Debate is sent every Thursday and features a selection of the best reader comments and most talked-about stories. Read the latest edition of Dezeen Debate or subscribe here.

You can also subscribe to our other newsletters; Dezeen Agenda is sent every Tuesday containing a selection of the most important news highlights from the week, Dezeen Daily is our daily bulletin that contains every story published in the preceding 24 hours and Dezeen In Depth is sent on the last Friday of every month and delves deeper into the major stories shaping architecture and design.

The post Dezeen Debate features forest house with "brutal privacy screens" appeared first on Dezeen.

A screen made of dense weathering steel slats shades the facade of a Córdoba, Argentina house expanded over the last fifteen years by Argentinian architect Christian Schlatter.

Originally started in 2008, the final stage of Casa MC, a 230-square metre (2,476-square foot) infill residence, was completed in 2023.

Architect Christian Schlatter designed the house to showcase the exchange between the interior and the public square directly in front of the house where the clients' children play.

The main challenge for the design was to link the two areas through sight lines without compromising the privacy of the home or keeping sunlight from illuminating the interior of the small plot.

The ground floor is open to the square through a large floor-to-ceiling window in the living room, which can be adjusted with blinds that regulate both light and privacy.

The interior spaces are set at an angle off of the rectilinear perimeter walls, shaping the living, dining, kitchen and staircase into a trapezoid.

The kitchen and dining room are separated from the main level with a set of sliding glass doors with wooden frames. A second metal-frame set of glass doors open to the backyard.

The main dividing wall splits the property into roughly equal halves: the compact family areas and an incongruent garage and backyard with a pool.

Up the floating concrete stairs – lit from above by a skylight – the private areas form a slanted L-shaped level with the main ensuite located at the back of the property and three smaller rooms aligned along the front facade.

Off the front facade, weathering steel slats protect a balcony.

The metal skin appears to change based on angle, "sieving the entry of light and generating different degrees of illumination during different times of the day and during different seasons," the team said.

"According to how the sun illuminates the metallic skin, the projected shadows compose different plots. During the night the lighting was arranged so that metallic skin to "parasol mode" projected the shadows thrown on the facade."

In addition to changing based on perspective, light, shadow and season, the screen serves as a form of solar control, reducing the energy consumption, which is aided by solar panels.

On the interior, the white walls and neutral-coloured flooring are warmed by kiri and oak wooden accents. The wood is used as a ceiling feature in the kitchen, furniture and cabinetry, as well as the material for the entry and garage doors on the exterior.

The wood accent reappears in the backyard in the form of a large sliding cover for the pool, offset by the green of the turfed lawn.

Other projects recently completed in Córdoba include a glazed home lifted on a hilltop by Malina Zayat and an office building wrapped in metal screens by Santiago Viale and Juan Manuel Juarez.

The photography is by Gonzalo Viramonte.

Project credits:
Architect: Arq. Christian Schlatter
Construction: ACS.A.

The post Christian Schlatter screens Córdoba house with weathering steel appeared first on Dezeen.

Screens of concrete panels surround Block Wall House, a triangular home that design studio Nendo has nestled into a forest in Japan.

Located in Japan's Nagano Prefecture, the home has a long triangular form extending 110 metres along the side of a road, which winds through the forested landscape.

Nendo has screened the house from passing traffic by enclosing it in walls of concrete blocks, but positioned gaps between them to preserve views of the lush surroundings.

"Ensuring privacy and offering a sense of openness while living in the interior space are generally conflicting goals," the studio told Dezeen.

"In this project, however, we tried to achieve both through the design of the enclosing walls, aiming for a house that is completely surrounded by these walls."

To form the screens, over two thousand small concrete blocks were set within a horizontal concrete grid at a range of angles, creating varying levels of light and privacy in different places. In areas where additional privacy is required, there are two rows of blocks.

"In areas with a single row, the view is set in one direction," the studio explained. "With two rows overlapping, the view on the other side is visible only when the block angles in the front and back rows align, otherwise, the view is obstructed," it continued.

"From the public road, the house appears to be hidden by these walls, but once inside, one can enjoy the lush green surroundings," added Nendo.

The blocks are made from CO2-SUICOM, an alternative to traditional concrete designed to emit less CO2 during its production, according to Nendo.

"The material used for the blocks is CO2-SUICOM, which is made by replacing a portion of cement with an industrial byproduct and adding a carbon dioxide-absorbing material for less CO2 emissions during production," the studio explained.

Inside, Nendo has arranged the home's living spaces in timber structures slotted between the rows of screens.

"This design creates a spatial experience that leads people further inside, giving a sense of space that feels larger than the actual area," said Nendo.

It comprises a living room, dining room, bedroom and bathroom, all of which are united by moody, dimly-lit interiors finished with dark colours and textured materials.

This includes wooden floors, ceilings and columns, alongside rough concrete elements and dark grey furnishings, such as a bench that wraps around the edges of the living room.

Founded in 2005 by chief designer Oki Sato, Nendo is a Japanese studio most known for its product design work.

Previous architectural projects by the studio include an archive building formed from stacked concrete tunnels and a showroom for a marble brand that features a dimpled marble facade.

The photography is by Takumi Ota unless stated otherwise.

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Canadian practice Studio North has wrapped a wooden screen around the curved corners and cantilevers of a Calgary house near a winding river.

Studio North completed the 4,520-square-foot (420-square metre) residence – known as Elbow House – at the end of 2023 on an 8,050-square-foot (748-square metre), wedge-shaped property along the banks of the Elbow River.

"The Elbow House looks to the immediate and the macro landscapes for inspiration," the studio told Dezeen. "The form, materiality, and windows are all choreographed to create both references to and relationships with these landscapes."

Taking in the surrounding mature trees and riverside daylight, the house "presents itself with a composed exterior of crisp lines and clean geometry that bring a gentle presence to the home".

The stereotomic ground floor is composed of grey brick, forming a plinth-like base for the light-weight wood-wrapped upper floor.

"This use of brick not only adds texture and depth to the exterior but also alludes to a warmth within, hinting at fireplaces that offer comfort against the cool backdrop," the team said.

Above, a lightweight, rhythmic screen wraps around the entire storey – its small vertical elements protruding off the facade with a delicate frame.

The screen animates the facade with changing filters of light and shadow, while carefully placed openings and skylights illuminate the interior.

On the exterior, the structure's massing creates "sheltered moments of intimacy" and the cantilevered perches throughout the second floor provide views of the surrounding river valley.

Residents enter into the warm, central kitchen and are greeted by a grand stone island with a waterfall counter, juxtaposed by a lightweight wood-and-glass staircase.

"The kitchen becomes the space where the outside world meets the private sanctuary of the home, framing views of the outdoor entertainment area tucked under the cantilever and of the backyard beyond," said Studio North.

The other ground-floor public spaces are light and airy with ten-foot ceilings and glazing on the east and south walls. The living room is defined by clean lines and soft details. "[Is is] an elegant testament to modern living where the boundaries between home and the world outside can become blurred," said the studio.

Upstairs, the primary bedroom cantilevers out into the surrounding landscape, bringing light in on three sides through large windows and welcoming in both the sunrise and sunset. Meanwhile, the natural stone accents and glazed tiles of the ensuite bathroom are bathed in light through a skylight.

"In its attention to detail and composition, the Elbow House is a thoughtful orchestration of material and form, achieving a balance between openness and seclusion, solidity and transparency," the studio said.

The delicately curving wooden screen – this time in the form of a plywood barrel vault – can also be seen in Studio North's recent design of a speakeasy in the nearby Inglewood neighbourhood.

Alternatively, the team employed Corten planters to weather over time to add a patina to a residential garden and garage in Calgary's Upper Mount Royal neighbourhood.

The photography is by Hayden Pattullo, Damon Hayes Couture, and Holly Mills.

Project credits:

Architectural designer: Studio North
Interior designer: Bailey Fray DeJong
Builder: Mairen Homes
Videography: Brendan Kane
Wood composite screen: NewTechWood Canada

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Brazilian architecture studio DB Arquitetos has completed a holiday home surrounded by a wooden screen in a forested site outside of São Paulo, Brazil.

Known as Casa VJC Iporanga, the 660-square-metre summer retreat is located in a residential condominium complex in Guarujá, roughly 100 kilometers southeast of São Paulo on the Atlantic coast.

The home was completed in 2023 by the Brazilian team of DB Arquitectos, which is lead by architect David Basto, and Marina Salles Arquitectura e Interiores, which previously renovated the interior of the client's primary residence in downtown São Paulo.

The five-level house is delicately stacked along a steep slope in a densely vegetated site.

"An invitation to immersion, the proposal takes advantage of the double layer that surrounds the residence, from the palette of natural materials applied to the base, to the canopy of trees – alluding to a treehouse – suggesting a shelter," the team told Dezeen.

"A pause to urban frenzy, this is the ideal place to slow down, emphasising the calm lifestyle."

The lower floors contain private sleeping areas, surrounded through openings by the plants outside; meanwhile, the upper floors hold the social spaces, which look out to the treetops and coastal landscape.

The two-tiered roof is supported by round concrete columns.  Floor-to-ceiling glazing set in bronze-coloured sliding frames flanks the living areas.

On the top floor, the kitchen, dining, and living room are finished with a plank ceiling made of Cumaru wood and granite floors, which translate f comfort and lightness.

"In decoration, the mix of pieces in wood, linen, straw, rattan and ceramics suggests the simplicity of an authentic beach house, without forgetting easy maintenance and durability against the effects of time and sea air," the team said, noting the pair of Jocal sofas and waterproof-canvas Iporanga House, Marina Salles armchairs.

The main level also contains light wooden elements like a Xangai rattan armchair, indigenous benches, custom nesting side tables and a chest, sideboard and centre tables commissioned from a carpentry workshop in Tiradentes.

The social spaces open out to a balcony with a sun deck outfit with a rustic wooden pergola, outdoor kitchen and furniture selected to complement the pieces inside and provide continuity between the interior and exterior.

A small rectangular pool holds the edge of the deck with a glass railing to protect the edge of the balcony.

"Encouraging an integrated experience with nature on the terrace, the absence of enclosures intensifies the residents' connection with the landscape, like an observatory where the sea is seen above the treetops," the team said.

Below, the suites are protected from the elements with slatted Cumaru wood panels, which wrap around the facade and form half-height guardrails and bi-fold louvers.

When closed, the screens allow the lower floors to disappear into the forest as a wooden mass. When open, the screens reveal banding along the different levels.

The suites are decorated in shades of beige, green, and blue that were drawn from the nautical-themed illustrations that Salles sketched for embroidered details.

The wooden screens also conceal a home theatre with linen curtains that filter natural light, an orange and green striped rug and straw baskets created by local craftsmen.

Other projects recently completed near São Paulo include a cantilevered courtyard house by Marcelo Couto and Rodrigo Oliveira and an overhauled apartment with "two universes" by Pascali Semerdjian.

The photography is by Fran Parente.

Project credits:

Architecture and interior design: DB Arquitetos
Decoration: Marina Salles Arquitetura e Interiores
Responsible architect: Marina Salles
Lighting: Lightworks (Airton Pimenta)
Construction: Mareô
Suppliers: Jocal, Amazônia Móveis, Dpot, Gervasoni, Casual Móveis, Franccino Giardini, Atelier Carlos Motta, Prime Marcenaria, CR Santos Tapeçaria, Dpot Objetos, Ecosimple, Trousseau, Estúdio Avelós, Regatta Tecidos, Nani Chinellato, Clatt

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Brazilian architect Marcelo Couto and landscape designer Rodrigo Oliveira have created a cantilevering house with multiple courtyards and an interior staircase with a slide attached in Fazenda da Grama, São Paulo.

The concrete house with delicate wooden screens and heavy weathering steel elements is known as the Serra Residence. Located in Fazenda da Grama, São Paulo, the 12,809-square foot (1,190-square metre) house was completed in 2022.

The house is composed of three linear sections: two running parallel north to south on the ground floor and the third stacked on top crossing the lower floors, creating a U-shaped plan.

"The project was built upon the challenge presented by the clients' program: two twin brothers and their families with children of different ages, all desiring to share and enjoy the house simultaneously while preserving private areas," Marcelo Couto Architecture told Dezeen.

"Independent, parallel, and overlapping blocks with defined uses create built, semi-covered, and open spaces, integrating with lush gardens, water mirrors, decks, pools, all in complete harmony."

The plan is organized into three levels. The lowest level is semi-buried in the site's slope and contains a garage, flexible space and service areas.

The main level is divided into two halves.

The larger bar on the north section features two structural end walls and four large columns.

Floor-to-ceiling glazing runs along both sides creating a breezy, light-filled space for living, dining, and sitting by the large fireplace.

Two staircases float within the space and feature slides that playfully drop down into the underground level.

The smaller bar on the southern side of the plan stacks three-bedroom suites along a long corridor, followed by a sauna with a private garden, and ends in a kitchen.

These lower sections are connected by an expansive covered outdoor kitchen and dining area.

Above, the crossbar contains another four-bedroom suites with either end cantilevering over the main level with portal-like balconies.

"The idea was to create a solution that harmonized with the terrain using transparencies, a fluid relationship between interior and exterior, addressing natural ventilation, sunlight, and controlling high temperatures in the region through the use of louvers, dense landscaping, generous eaves and water mirrors," the team said.

Predominantly finished in exposed concrete and glass, the home also features untreated wood cladding and shading screens.

The retaining and closing walls are made of multi-coloured basalt and white cement to give texture and tonal variety.

Rodrigo Oliveira Paisagismo designed the landscaped areas as "a lush tropical garden that deconstructed the straight lines of the architecture and embraced the house, bringing visual and thermal comfort," the landscape studio told Dezeen.

Within the sloping, tree-lined property are five distinct gardens and five individual water features.

On the northwestern side of the living room section, a lawn leads to a rectangular lap pool and a hot tub.

The central courtyard features lush plantings that transition to a tranquil reflecting pool, spanned by a boardwalk on the northeastern side of the plan.

A private linear garden runs along the southeastern perimeter of the house, accessed through the bedrooms.

On the upper level, two shallow troughs – or "water mirrors" – run along the roof of the living room bar, creating a water-framed terrace with a planted roof and a fire pit. The roof of the bedroom bar is also planted.

"The success of this project undoubtedly lay in the perfect harmony among the architectural, structural, and landscaping professionals and projects," the team said.

Also recently completed in São Paulo is a renovated brick house with a pub in the basement by Goiva.

The photography is by Maíra Acayaba.

Project credits:

Architectural Design: Marcelo Couto Architecture
Structural Design: Modus Engineering
Installations Design: Etip
Landscaping Design: Rodrigo Oliveira Landscaping

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Local architects Santiago Viale and Juan Manuel Juarez have wrapped the offices of an animal feed plant in Córdoba with a perforated metal screen.

The 18,040 square foot (1,676 square metre) administrative building is part of a larger 199,000 square foot (18,460 square metre) industrial complex for Biofarma, which produces feed for animals including poultry, swine and cattle.

Santiago Viale and Juan Manuel Juarez organized offices, meeting rooms, printing areas and lounge areas across two rectangular floors, punctuated by two internal courtyards at the centre.

The courtyards, along with wood-clad staircases at either end of the building, create collaborative and interactive spaces for employees across the two levels, according to the team.

The office and meeting spaces were distributed along the internal perimeter, with one side abutting floor-to-ceiling windows that span the exterior and the other, a central passageway.

Glass partitions enclose several office spaces, while others were left open.

"The company managers' offices are distributed around a double-height space that connects with a hierarchized entrance on the ground floor, reinforcing the sense of institutional identity," said the team.

Visitors enter the building's lobby through a concrete vestibule that extends out from underneath a metal screen enclosing the exterior.

A small auditorium sits next to the lobby, clad in wooden panelling with integrated lighting running through its ceiling and walls. Large windows extend along its side.

Lounge areas and a coffee break space provide additional gathering spaces on the second floor, while a dining area opens onto a roof terrace.

Reinforced concrete was used for the building's structure, which was then wrapped in pre-painted grey galvanized expanded metal sheet skin.

A gap of 27 inches (70 centimetres) sits between the metallic screen and the building's exterior to create sun protection.

"This skin plays a significant role in the project, as it forms an intermediate shaded space between the glass closure and the exterior, reducing direct sunlight radiation and, consequently, the building's energy consumption," said the team.

Moveable panels were also integrated into the cage-like wrapping, while integrated vertical blinds provide further sun protection for inhabitants.

"It also gives the building the language and institutional character of the company," said the team.

Two large metal-framed openings were placed on either side of the building, which open onto the outdoor dining area.

A metal "Biofarma" sign was also placed on the exterior.

Other projects recently completed in Córdoba include a black concrete house by AR Arquitectos and two modular cabins by Set Ideas.

The photography is by Gonzalo Viramonte.

Project credits:
Collaborators: Salvador Viale, Tito Maximiliano Gonza, Francisco Gavilán, Nicolás Macasso, Santiago Viale Beviglia, Rocío Cornacchione, Emiliano Pino, Nicolás Borra, Lourdes Bruno, Fiama Ríos, Ricardo Cortesse, Eduardo Storaccio, Sonja Czeranski, Juan Macías
Deployed metal: ETC.
Integral front: Abest
Curtains: Suquía Curtains
Vinyl floor: Julia Sol
Auditorium Seats: Rassegna

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Breeze-block walls and a roof cutout for a palm tree are among the special features at an Arizona house designed by The Ranch Mine, which took cues from a mid-century modern dwelling across the street.

Designed for a family of four, the residence is located on a cactus-dotted site in Phoenix and looks toward Camelback Mountain, one of the city's most notable landforms.

The project's design was heavily influenced by a building across the street – a famed 1950s experimental house called White Gates that was designed by mid-century modern architect Al Beadle.

Vacant for decades, the historic house has a simple, boxy shape and white exterior screens with elliptical openings.

Upon visiting the site for the first time, local architecture firm The Ranch Mine realized the house it was designing would need to respect its iconic neighbour.

"Knowing the history of this home, the architects knew immediately that they had the challenging task of creating a new neighbor that should honour the legacy of the mid-century modern icon while adding a distinctly new chapter to the story of this unique neighbourhood," said the studio.

The team conceived a single-storey residence called White Dates, a riff on White Gates and a reference to the area's date trees.

The low-lying home consists of central blocks and a rectangular wing placed at an angle.

Exterior walls are sheathed in creamy stucco, with accents made of thermally treated Nordic pine. The landscape features flagstone walkways and desert plants.

To honour the Beadle house, the team incorporated mid-century modern elements in "fresh, contemporary ways". For example, the street-facing elevation features an enclosed patio with brise-soleil-style walls.

"The front patio is perhaps the most clear mid-century connection, using breeze-block to screen the road and focus the view towards the mountain beyond," the team said.

The front of the house also features a date palm tree that grows up through a triangular opening in the roof. It alludes to a similar design element at the Palm Springs City Hall building, designed by architect Albert Frey and completed in 1952.

Within the 4,545-square-foot (422-square-metre) house, the team prioritized views of the camel-hump-shaped mountain to the north.

The public spaces were placed in the central portion of the plan. Floor-to-ceiling glazed doors are located on both sides of the great room, enabling cool breezes to pass through the space.

To the west of the central volume is a bar that contains the primary bedroom suite. To the east is the angled wing, which holds bedrooms, an office, a den, a laundry room and a garage.

The interior design was meant to be somewhat subdued.

"The interior palette is restrained to let the mountain and mid-century design elements come to the forefront," the team said.

Finishes include concrete flooring, plaster in the main bathroom, and millwork made of walnut and white oak.

The kitchen is fitted with black-matte cabinetry and a granite island and backsplash.

The fronds of a date palm tree inspired certain details, such as the wood patterning behind the bar and a wooden screen wall that separates the kitchen from a sitting area.

Other projects by The Ranch Mine include a board-marked concrete home in Phoenix that was designed for a ceramicist and a black, multi-gabled house in northern Arizona that appears to "burst vertically from the ground".

The photography is by Dan Ryan Studio.

Project credits:

Architect: The Ranch Mine
Builder: Minnewaska

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Local architecture firm La Base Studio has renovated a glass and concrete home, wrapping it in a delicate privacy and shading screen on a lush site in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Known as Casa Mendoza, the 2,150-square foot (200-square metre) residence was completed in 2022 on a 3,350-square foot (330-square metre) lot at the connection of an urban grid and private neighbourhood.

The site falls at an intersection of a busy cosmopolitan street and an elevated railway infrastructure where the roads dead end into green slopes. The location exposes the home to onlookers, so the design responds to views differently between the levels.

The home was first constructed in the mid-1970s by a civil engineer, and La Base Studio demolished part of it for its current iteration.

Originally enclosed in traditional masonry walls, the team stripped the house back to its structure and preserved only the reinforced concrete slabs, columns, and beams.

The existing service space was also demolished and rebuilt underground – within a 430-square-foot (40-square metre) subterranean library and study.

The underground storey also features a half-level patio with mirror-coated walls that reflect the Japanese cherry tree and ferns above.

The ground floor – open to the garden with 360-degrees of floor-to-ceiling glazing – contains the entry, kitchen, dining space, and living room in different quadrants.

The sliding glass doors open to the garden and pool deck, blurring the interior and exterior relationship.

"These decisions reinforce the desire to convert this space into a large semi-covered space, almost as a gallery, where the true visual and physical limits are the wooden planks of the fence or the walls vegetated by native species," the studio told Dezeen.

The kitchen walls float like wooden objects in the space, holding up marble counters and sink. Speckled granite floors are juxtaposed by white ceilings.

"All materials are shown in raw finish, without coatings or paints."

A delicate, suspended staircase with open wooden treads rises to the upper level, which prioritizes privacy and seclusion in an environment that protects from sight and sound.

A lounge space comprises half of the floor plate, while three bedrooms and a bathroom are stacked on the other side.

Set in from the perimeter of the house, the upper story has a wraparound patio that serves as a transitional space with a light wood, lattice-like screen.

"It is an abstraction of the context, an idealisation of nature, a contained universe," the team said. "Almost like a nest or a basket, which allows sunlight and wind to pass through, but also protects from direct contact with the surroundings."

The bedrooms are housed in a mid-toned wooden box.

They pass from the lounge space to the patio that ends in a white tiled wall that bounces light back into the space.

Residents can see out of the upper level, but no one can see in, and vegetation planted between the glazed enclosure and the screen helps isolate the house at night.

"The opposition of exposure and protection is the common thread of the entire project."

Other recent renovations in Buenos Aires include a modernist white house by Adamo Faiden and a 1930s brick home by Torrado Arquitectos.

The photography is by Cristóbal Palma.

Project credits:

Architecture: La Base Studio
Collaborators: Ceclia huberman, Sol Barcan, Lilian Kartashian, Camila Moncarz
Furniture: La Base Studio
Landscape: Per Estudio
Equipment: Helmut Muebles, Huup Iluminación, Awanay Rugs
Art: Luna Paiva, Amour Leopard, Michelle Dabul, Nahuel Vacino

The post La Base Studio wraps glass Buenos Aires house with shading screen appeared first on Dezeen.

Local studio FGMF has used translucent screens and metallic panels to enclose a residence on a sloping site near São Paulo.

Located in the town of Campinas, Casa Brisa stands within an expansive shell-like structure that protects the residence from inclement weather and the high temperatures of the area.

"It is an investigation into the inside and outside, the covered and open, the union between gardens and architecture in a quiet way, using simple materials in an unconventional way," said FGMF partner Fernando Forte.

The two-storey, concrete home, stands underneath an independent steel structure that supports a flat, corrugated metal roof and sides made from perforated metal screens.

It has various openings to accommodate growing trees and allow light into the home and gardens below.

Large windows, screens and sliding glass doors throughout the home open the residence to the outdoors.

The designers integrated the home into its site by burying the ground floor into the slope, with the entrance and second floor at street level.

The house extends the length of its hilly site with a linear floor plan that incorporates semi-open gardens and concludes with an outdoor living and pool area.

On the ground floor, utility spaces like storage and a small bathroom are underneath the entrance to the home, which is tucked into the steepest part of the site. A hallway expands into the main living area and is surrounded by the first garden at the home.

The main living space contains a seating area, a dining room, and kitchen that can be opened using large sliding glass doors.

A second garden containing trees and native plants surrounds the space. Both gardens will expand and grow over time to create an additional layer of privacy. A pool and lounge area completes the living space.

Upstairs, three bedrooms are equally open to the surroundings with large windows and metal screens that slide open or close.

Masonry details like a decorative fence at the entrance of the home were designed to create softness in the inner layer of the structure, while the outer shell is more industrial, with a structure made of steel and metal.

Solar panels integrated into the outer shell provide water heating and power for the residence.

During the day, the home appears rigid and monolithic from afar. At night, its translucent layers expose the interior structure.

FGMF has completed several buildings in the São Paulo area, including a multi-use skyscraper with a central atrium, and another countryside home that features block-like volumes.

The photography is by Fran Parente.

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The latest edition of our Dezeen Debate newsletter features a screen-wrapped house in Kent designed to be taken over by nature as plants grow up its perforated-steel facade. Subscribe to Dezeen Debate now. 

Informed by rattan weavings, British practice Giles Miller Studio devised a repeating pattern of twisting, diamond-shaped modules for the facade of Woven House, which sits on a sloped site near the Broadstairs coastline.

Commenters were enamoured by the dwelling, calling it "gorgeous", "really well done" and a "lovely little holiday home".

Other stories sparking debate in this week's newsletter include the rejection of plans to demolish Marks & Spencer's Oxford Street flagship, Twitter's controversial X rebrand and the design of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic torch.

Dezeen Debate

Dezeen Debate is sent every Thursday and features a selection of the best reader comments and most talked-about stories. Read the latest edition of Dezeen Debate or subscribe here.

You can also subscribe to our other newsletters; Dezeen Agenda is sent every Tuesday containing a selection of the most important news highlights from the week, Dezeen Daily is our daily bulletin that contains every story published in the preceding 24 hours and Dezeen In Depth is sent on the last Friday of every month and delves deeper into the major stories shaping architecture and design.

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An intricate screen designed to encourage plant growth wraps around the walls of Woven House, which British practice Giles Miller Studio has raised above a sloped site in Kent.

Located 100 metres away from Broadstairs coastline, the house is designed by Giles Miller Studio to be taken over by nature as plants grow up its perforated-steel facade.

"The design approach for Woven House has been to question the relationship between the inside and outside spaces of the building, to try to enrich the experience of being in both," studio founder Giles Miller told Dezeen.

"The house breaks down barriers between the building's internal spaces and the glade of natural planting and trees that surround it, through a unique sculptural facade which invites nature to grow up the outside of the house whilst also being visible from within it."

Giles Miller Studio created a repeating pattern of twisting, diamond-shaped modules for the steel facade, which is informed by rattan weavings.

The screen wraps around all four walls of the home and offers shading to the interior spaces.

Plants including jasmine and clematis grow up the intricate facade, which is connected to the building by a support structure made from recycled acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) plastic sourced from the production of electric components.

The placement of the screen on a deep support structure offsets it from the main walls of the home and gives the plants more space to grow.

"The depth of the sculptural modules allows for increased visual permeability as well as a greater surface for the climbing plants which adorn the building to weave through," said the studio.

Behind the screen are large portions of glazing, intended to enhance the home's connection to nature by maximising the views of the surrounding plants.

Woven House's structure is made from glued-laminated timber and cross-laminated timber (CLT), and clad in timber with a matte-black finish chosen to reflect the industrial character of the steel facade.

"The use of such extensive glazing in combination with our sculptural facade design defines the architectural approach to this building," said Miller.

"We wanted to purify and celebrate those details with a timeless black finish which would sit in quiet contrast with the natural timber and planting that lives alongside it," Miller continued.

"There is also an industrial feel to the facade framework which feels comfortable in a matt black industrial finish."

A steel staircase running to an opening in the screen leads inside the home, which is raised slightly above the sloping site on stilts. Each room has been lined with light timber panels.

The staircase guides visitors into an open living and dining space decorated with lightly-toned furnishings and hanging light fixtures.

In the kitchen, black-coloured timber joinery draws on the tones of the home's exterior, while quartz countertops and a white kitchen island help to brighten the space.

The ground floor spaces, which are organised around a central CLT core, are designed to be fully integrated but separable by floor-to-ceiling grey curtains.

"The floor and ceilings are supported on a central utilitarian CLT structure on the ground floor which accommodates the kitchen, WC and steel staircase," said Miller.

"This central cluster is combined with external vertical pillars to create a cantilevered structure that allows the ground floor perimeter to be 90 per cent glazed and creates a free-flowing open space that runs around the whole ground floor."

From the living space, a black-coloured timber staircase leads upstairs, where four bedrooms have been nestled into the corners of the building, giving each space maximal views of the surrounding trees.

Timber walls and ceilings help to bring a natural feel to the bedrooms, alongside floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the treetops.

Two bathrooms branch off the central corridor, which runs between the bedrooms on either side of the building. Two of the bedrooms are also connected to ensuite bathrooms.

While Woven House marks its first residential project, British practice Giles Miller Studio has worked on a range of sculptural architectural projects since it was founded in 2011, including a recyclable two-storey pavilion designed for BBC Studios and a plywood installation presented as part of London Design Festival.

The photography is by Rachel Ferriman.

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Italian studio Mixtura has created a convent in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil with multiple buildings arranged around open-air cloisters wrapped in a wooden brise soleil.

Mixtura, a studio based in Rome, Italy, completed the 5,300-square metre Convent of the Franciscan Fraternity of Bethany (FFB Convent) in 2022.

Located in the São Cristóvão neighborhood of Salvador de Bahia, the convent serves as a safe meeting place for a large community in one of the most dangerous areas of Salvador de Bahia.

The convent was designed to reflect the mix of Western and African cultural influences in the area and the hospitality of Franciscan and Marian practice, the studio said.

"We reinterpreted the classical introverted conventual typology, multiplying the number of cloisters and thinning out the buildings to allow the wind, which constantly blows from the east, to reach all the buildings and open areas," the studio said.

More than ten individual forms, each holding its own program, are organized around five green cloisters and connected by three large roof systems.

"Each building maintains its own architectural identity, obtained through the declination of the wooden element, which sometimes has a bioclimatic function, sometimes it is a structure and cladding," the studio said.

The central space is a wooden church, constructed with a three-dimensional truss beam that creates a cross form on the back wall.

The walls are made of pivoting and sliding brise soleil panels that allow the sanctuary to open to a covered square at the entry and increase the church's capacity.

A refectory is located at the southwest corner of the complex and is connected to the church by a multi-angled truss roof, which functions "like a sombrero."

"It is a permeable building, covered by a roof supported by six Corten steel pillars that make it independent from the building envelope," the studio explained. "The latter, like a protected enclosure, is made up of wooden slatted elements and pivoting panels on the ground floor."

These elements allow the occupants to open the space and control the building's air circulation. The refectory features a wrapping balcony that turns the space into a theatre or concert hall for public events.

The northwest corner of the complex contains the library, sacristy and reception areas.

The library is composed of four cumaru wood pillars and wrapped in polycarbonate.

The translucent cladding allows the library's contents to be illuminated at night and makes the structure deliberately stand out from the rest of the buildings – as does its separate roof system.

The sacristy and reception hall are characterized by a wood and reinforced concrete hybrid structure, designed for security and privacy. The masonry envelope turns to four full-height Corten and wooden operable panels.

On the northeast corner of the plan lie the training rooms, chapter house, warehouses and workshop.

"All the functions are housed in three distinct volumes made of reinforced concrete and masonry, connected by a single raised roof made of wooden reticular beams," the team said.

A large, three-story housing structure completes the southwest corner of the block. The prefabricated concrete structure is surrounded by a wooden exoskeleton with external balconies and Venetian shading systems.

From the outside, it appears to be one volume, but it is actually five separate forms with breezeways that open to a central courtyard.

The terrace level contains a "cobogo" perimeter – a tropical building system that uses concrete elements to protect from rain while allowing air to pass through. The lodging building has rooftop solar panels.

Using perforated screens to naturally ventilate buildings is a common practice in Brazil. For example, Marcos Bertoldi Arquitetos wrapped a Curitiba house in a wooden curtain and Gisele Borges Arquitectura added a perforated metal façade to an apartment building in Belo Horizonte.

The photography is by Cesare Querci.

Project credits:

Architect: Mixtura
Design team: Cesare Querci, Maria Grazia Prencipe, Guido Di Croce

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Local studio 5468796 Architecture has fused the geometries of traditional architecture with modern elements for a weathering steel-wrapped house outside of Winnipeg, Canada.

Located in a "conservative-minded" Winnipeg suburb, Veil House is wrapped in a steel structure with long panels that reflect the deep hip roofing styles of the neo-Gothic houses in the neighbourhood.

5468796 wanted to mirror some of the angles and geometries of these more traditional housing styles with "foreign" materials.

The studio included the weathering steel veil to provide privacy from the street. It is contrasted by stained cedar elements that wrap the base of the house.

"The veil cloaks the blocks with a look of heaviness or lightness depending on the viewer's position," said the studio.

"Though it produces very different geometries in plan and elevation, it cohesively integrates shadow and light play in its perforation and pattern."

Behind the veil, the house is clad with a black cementitious panel coloured to mimic shadow and void and glass.

The veil's material was chosen for its ability to stand up to the cold, dry climate in Winnipeg. Two different variations of the steel panelling were used, one perforated and one opaque.

"The predominant material, weathering steel, was chosen for its robustness and aesthetic qualities. The veil panels have only two variations of the material; perforated and opaque," said the studio.

"Where the veil tightly wraps windowed facades, the panels are perforated entirely to permit light to pass in both directions.”

The veil wraps around the structure, attached and detached at certain points, and terminates at the top, where it angles down into the central courtyard.

The living spaces are organized on a nine-square grid block pattern around the central courtyard.

The public spaces are free-flowing, with an open format for the living, family, dining, and kitchen. The utility spaces such as the laundry room, fireplace, storage, and circulation are concealed.

In following this layout, the house can function without walls and doors. A ramp flows around the structure, mirroring the flow of the veil and providing interior access to the two floors.

Some of the ground floor areas are double height, with an expressive cedar panelling that continues on the ceiling and walls throughout the home, interspersed with stark white materials.

The single bedroom and the gym space are below grade.

Two spaces, one on the ground floor and one on the second storey, are semi-enclosed by the veil.

The house is more open in the back, with floor-to-ceiling glass doors opening to the backyard space.

Other structures wrapped in weathering steel include a social housing block by David Baker Architects in Los Angeles and a home by Canadian architect Omar Gandhi in British Columbia that was designed to be fire-resistant.

The photography is by James Brittain Photography.

Project credits:

Architect: 5468796 Architecture [Ken Borton - Project architect, Sasa Radulovic - Partner-in-charge]
Interiors: Linda Levit - XYZ Design Inc.
Structural engineer: Lavergne Draward & Assoc. [LDA]
Civil engineer & surveyor: Barnes & Duncan Surveying Geomatics & Engineering
Geotechnical engineer: Eng-Tech Consulting Lt

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Perforated screens of gold-toned metal filter light and air into Lantern House, a villa on Banana Island in Lagos designed by Tosin Oshinowo-led studio CmDesign Atelier.

CmDesign Atelier was commissioned to design a five-bedroom home with ample room for entertaining guests on the private island, which is known for its luxury residential developments.

Overlooking a garden, pool and terrace wrapping the northeastern edge of the site, Lantern House has a mixture of openings and steel screens that ensure privacy and light throughout the building.

"The exterior of the building includes solid structural walls and glass, with patterned steel screening to create the impression of a solid and porous structure all at once," said the studio.

"During the day, the interiors are filled with natural light, while the sun reflects and highlights the patterned screen. At night, the interior glows outwards through the patterned screens, creating a lantern effect," CmDesign Atelier continued.

On the ground floor, a living, dining and kitchen area opens onto the outdoor gathering spaces through sliding glass doors, with a terrace sheltered by the overhang of the first and second floors.

In the more private western half of Lantern House, a separate staff entrance and study space sit alongside a parking area and services block.

A helical staircase in steel, glass and marble leads to a secondary living room on the first floor, which is wrapped by three guest bedrooms and two staff bedrooms.

On the second floor is the main bedroom and a large walk-in wardrobe, connecting to a private, decked rooftop patio sheltered between high walls and one of the home's perforated metal screens.

"The house has layers of increased privacy as you move vertically upwards through the property, similar to the cultural requirements of a traditional Yoruba household setting and essential to multigenerational living," said the studio.

"In keeping with this need for privacy and separate living spaces in some regions of the house, the master bedroom suite also incorporates a 58-square-metre walk-in wardrobe with two skylights that throw natural light into the space," it continued.

The interiors of Lantern House were completed by the client, who has a local interior design studio in Lagos.

Contrasting the pale exterior and internal walls of the building, dark wood fittings and bold furniture and artwork define the living spaces.

Other projects recently completed by Tosin Oshinowo's studio include a minimal beach house on Lagos peninsula.

Oshinowo was also recently appointed to curate the second edition of the Sharjah Architecture Triennial, which will take place later this year.

The photography is by Tolu Sanusi.

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Folding glass doors and perforated metal screens allow for the mediation of light, ventilation, and noise at the J House in Bien Hoa, Vietnam, designed by local studio CTA.

CTA, short for Creative Architects, was approached by a teacher who had purchased a narrow plot measuring four by 24 metres and wanted to create a bright, airy home to accommodate spaces for her gardening hobby.

Set back from the street behind a perforated metal gate, the J House is organised as a layering of spaces, beginning with a living room and classroom that is accessed through full-height, folding glass doors.

Beyond this room is a kitchen and dining space at the centre of the home, which leads to a bedroom and a small private garden at its southern end.

Each of these spaces is separated by large, wood-framed screens, infilled with panels of translucent, transparent and textured glass that creates a variety of light qualities and sight lines through the interior.

Due to the narrowness of the site, skylights are used to pull light and air into the centre and rear of the home. They are topped with a thin layer of stones to reduce glare and create dappled shadows inside.

"After analysing the typical defects of townhouses, the team put the criteria of green space, natural light, natural ventilation and noise prevention into the top priority list in the design process," explained CTA.

"The indoor space is always filled with natural light but not hot, moreover, the shade from the stone layers creates an effect similar to the sun through the leaves, helping to increase the feeling of nature."

A skylit staircase leads to J House's smaller first floor, which contains an additional bedroom, bathroom and terrace space at the front, and a rooftop garden sheltered by a metal-framed pergola at the rear.

Externally, the home's upper storey is clad with a gridded pattern of finely perforated metal panels, with a gap to allow for unobstructed views from the bedroom window and terrace.

Inside, a palette of dark wood, concrete and stone panels complements the dappled shadows, lending the dwelling a feeling of warmth and intimacy, while the hollow-frame ceiling system is helps to absorb noise from the street.

Founded in 2014, CTA is a Vietnamese architecture studio led by Bui The Long, Vo The Duy and Nguyen Thi Xuan Thanh in Ho Chi Minh City.

Other projects recently completed by the studio include a narrow home in Tay Ninh clad in brown scalloped tiles and another residence in Bien Hoa that is wrapped in perforated bricks.

The photography is by Hiroyuki Oki.

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Dezeen Showroom: design studio Baldanzi & Novelli designers has created the Worklab mobile office divider for Narbutas to give workplaces a multi-use furniture option.

Worklab combines elements of a media wall, whiteboard, mobile workstation, shelving unit and space divider.

The piece is highly customisable with a range of colours, finishes and accessories, and its side panels come in either perforated metal or upholstery, both of which can add an aesthetic uplift to the workplace.

Worklab comes on castors so it can be easily moved to wherever it is needed to create a private work area or divide space, and its structure is made of metal for durability.

Narbutas recommends the multifunctional furniture item for not just offices but public spaces and creative workshops.

"It is a handy tool for managing the flow of people and presentation of services, making it ideal for educational institutions, libraries, banks and post offices," said Narbutas.

Product: Worklab
Designer: Baldanzi & Novelli designers
Brand: Narbutas
Contact: press@narbutas.com

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Dezeen Showroom: US architecture studio Gensler has collaborated with design brand 3form to produce the Global Expressions collection, a range of semi-transparent room dividers based on traditional textiles.

Made of 3form's signature Varia resin or etched glass, the Global Expressions collection comes in six designs, Kente, Yakan, Jakar, Shibori, Kuba and Ochre, which are adapted from weaving, dying and decorative processes used around the world.

Kuba cloth, for example, is a textile design from Central Africa's Kuba Kingdom often featuring geometric patterns, while Shibori is a Japanese tie-dying technique usually done with indigo ink.

Gensler developed the Global Expressions designs for 3form, reinterpreting the textures and patterns of the textiles as flat etchings for transparent or translucent materials.

"While each pattern is distinctly individual, there are wonderful similarities in geometry and scale that allow them to be mixed or used independently," said Gensler director of product development and global practice area leader Scott Star. "And the graphic nature of the textile patterns complement the built environment beautifully."

The Global Expressions collection can serve as wall panels, dividers, reception desk wraps, or other elements, and comes in a choice of sizes.

Product: Global Expressions
Designer: Gensler and 3form
Brand: 3form
Contact: info@3-form.com

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Dezeen Showroom: designers Studio Stockholm worked with office brand Abstracta to create Agile – a function-packed roll-away screen that is designed to turn any spot in the workplace into an instant meeting room.

Described by Abstracta as being like "a mobile project room on castors", Agile has a large digital screen for remote meetings on one side and a magnetic whiteboard on the other, while also incorporating tools such as USB-C connections and a fold-out table to hold a laptop.

Studio Stockholm designed the product after observing software companies where teams worked in "an agile way", coming together for a quick coordination meeting and then moving on.

The intent is for Agile to allow people to come together spontaneously for meetings and presentations, and to be able to include remote participants via the screen.

Minimalistic in aesthetic and 100 per cent recyclable, Agile also includes an acoustic panel on the outside and interior insulation made from textile waste, so it helps to dampen noise for everyone in the workplace.

"The office of the future is a place where people will want to be," said Studio Stockholm interior architect Anders Johnson. "Our aim with Agile was to help improve creative work environments and cultures."

Product: Agile
Designer: Studio Stockholm
Brand: Abstracta
Contact: sales@abstracta.se

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Concrete and darkened cedar make up the facades of a Seattle home that was designed by architecture studio GO'C for a family of eight.

The Sound House is located on a sloped property in the city's Magnolia neighbourhood – a site that offers vistas of the downtown district and the Puget Sound. The dwelling sits atop an existing plateau that formerly held a house dating to the 1920s.

The architects had several guiding concerns, including capitalising on views and respecting the area's density and scale of surrounding buildings.

They also needed to create a spacious atmosphere for a newly blended family of two adults and six children. The father owns a record label, and the mother is a best-selling author.

"An emphasis was placed on providing large shared spaces to enjoy together and smaller areas of retreat for all members of the family," said local firm GO'C, formerly known as goCstudio.

The team devised a 5,500-square-foot (511-square-metre) home that is roughly L-shaped in plan and rectilinear in form. The building has two levels and a basement.

The northern elevation, which faces the street, consists of stacked, horizontal bars and an adjoining box that holds a garage. The southern elevation is more dynamic, with volumes that push outward and retreat.

"The massing of the house allows it to appear in scale with neighboring properties on the north side and opens up to the south as it cascades down the site," the team said.

The home's two layers have different facade treatments.

The lower portion has concrete walls that ground the building to the site, while the top level is clad in vertical, tight-knot cedar slats with an ebony stain. Over certain windows, the slats form screens that pivot open and closed.

Set back from the street, the entrance leads into a wide hall that offers a sightline through the home.

The ground level holds an open-plan kitchen, dining area and living room, all of which connect to a rear terrace. A fitness room and library are also found on the ground floor.

The double-height living room has ample glazing, bringing daylight deep into the home. A steel staircase with wooden treads leads to the upper level, where there are two wings connected by a bridge.

The east wing holds the parents' bedroom suite and cantilevers over the backyard, while the west arm encompasses the kids' sleeping area.

"The kids' side functions as a bunkhouse of sorts, with six small bedrooms arranged around a sun-filled central play space with a large skylight above," the architects said.

The children's play area extends outdoors to a terrace built atop the garage. The upper level also contains a small office.

A staircase within a light monitor leads to a roof deck, where the family grows vegetables and herbs in a 500-square-foot (46-square-metre) garden.

"The roof serves as an additional gathering space for the family and also houses an 18-panel solar array to offset energy usage," the team added.

The basement contains a game room, movie room, wine cellar and laundry facilities, and leads directly to the swimming pool.

The home has energy-saving features, including extra insulation and a radiant-hydronic heating system.

For the interior design, the team used durable finishes that could withstand daily use from a family of eight. Creating a cosy yet refined atmosphere was also important.

"Natural warmth was derived from the texture of the interior plaster, the use of warm woods, and the patina of the concrete and steel," the team said.

GO'C was founded in 2012 by Jon Gentry and Aimée O'Carroll. Their other projects include a winery tasting room that features cedar cladding and a rigorous structural grid and a Seattle apartment that doubles as a photographer's studio.

The photography is by Kevin Scott.

Project credits:

Architect: GO'C
Design principals: Jon Gentry, Aimée O'Carroll
Architectural staff: Ben Kruse, Yuchen Qiu
Contractor: Thomas Fragnoli Construction
Structural engineer: Swenson Say Faget
Civil engineer: J Welch Engineering
Lighting design: Niteo

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Dezeen Showroom: created by architect Piero Lissoni for Lualdi, the Skye partition system aims to reflect light into surrounding spaces.

Skye is a partition system of fixed panels and sliding doors that can be customised in an array of configurations.

The system is made from wood and glass, with the wood chosen for sustainability reasons as it naturally sequesters carbon, and the glass used to evoke a transparent and light appearance.

The product is customisable, and a range of different glass finishes and thicknesses are available.

Lualdi said the design of Skye honoured the brand's history in carpentry and woodworking.

"The collection conceived by Piero Lissoni constitutes the perfect synthesis of the two souls of the company: the more traditional one, linked to woodworking and its origins as an artisan carpentry of the late 1800s," said Lualdi, "and the more contemporary and innovative one, which marked the transition to a design brand and led the company's expansion at an international level."

Product: Skye
Designer: Piero Lissoni
Brand: Lualdi
Contact: alessandra@54words.net

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Dezeen Showroom: the Harp space divider by British office furniture brand Connection is designed to flexibly partition spaces in the workplace and features a distinctive bungee cord design.

Designed for evolving office environments, which require temporary zoning solutions, the Harp system can be used to carve out individual workspaces, lounge areas, or meeting zones.

"These 'hackable spaces' enable the occupier to make products and spaces their own, empowering the user to build a space which best suits their requirements," said Connection.

The Harp divider uses bungee cords pulled over steel frames to construct "walls", creating a strong aesthetic without obstructing light or visibility.

The dividers can be customised with accessories such as planter modules, shelves, whiteboards and AV units, which help to personalise the space while adding dampening sound.

Harp is available in a range of finishes, including a choice of eight bungee cord colours.

Product: Harp
Brand: Connection
Contact: george.eltringham@connection.uk.com

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Dezeen Showroom offers an affordable space for brands to launch new products and showcase their designers and projects to Dezeen's huge global audience. For more details email showroom@dezeen.com.

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Dutch studio Marcel Wanders has created a white patterned facade for a Louis Vuitton menswear store in Miami that was informed by the luxury brand's leatherwork and iconic monogram.

Located in the heart of the city's Design District, the store opened in December 2021 during the Design Miami fair.

While the building and interior design were handled by the company's in-house team, Amsterdam-based Marcel Wanders Studio created the exterior screen, dubbed the Diamond Facade.

In addition to Miami's modernist architecture, the design draws upon an earlier product created by Marcel Wanders for Louis Vuitton – the Diamond Screen room divider, which is part of the brand's Objet Nomades collection. The partition was unveiled in 2017.

"At that time, we wanted to create, from a single hexagonal module, a standing room divider, as well as an entire hanging modular system that could be used as an interior feature for the LV store," said Gabriele Chiave, the design studio's creative director.

To conceive the module, the studio assessed the qualities comprising the LV brand and zeroed in on its leather craftsmanship – in particular, the leather straps on its iconic bags.

"With these straps, we began to explore shape to create a module," the studio said. "This is how the hexagonal module found in the pattern was created."

"It also refers to the Louis Vuitton star monogram in very elegant and subtle way," the studio added.

A series of modules were then connected with brass clips, similar to those found on Louis Vuitton bags and trunks, and the Diamond Screen was born.

"To summarise, starting with a bag strap, we created a module, which became a room divider, which then became a broader interior feature, and finally a large-scale architectural facade," the team said.

To construct the building screen, the team used laser-cut metal plates that are welded together. The panels are coloured white, which relates to the character of Miami and gives the store a fresh look, the team said.

Rather than being a flat surface, the screen has a sculptural form, with several projecting window boxes that extend over the sidewalk below. This dynamic shape enhances the pattern and creates a sense of movement, said Chiave.

There is a 30-centimetre gap been the screen and the building's exterior wall, which results in an interesting play of light and shadow.

"When sunlight hits the building, the shadow of the metal facade drops into the wall, creating a shadow effect of the pattern," said Chiave. "This shadow creates a beautiful illusion of depth, or second skin."

At night, the building is brightly illuminated by internal light sources, which also produces a sense of depth.

This facade is the latest iteration of the Diamond Screen pattern. Louis Vuitton has used the design as partitions and backdrops in permanent stores and temporary installations.

"Because of the essence of this pattern being rooted in the iconic Louis Vuitton monogram, as well as its connection to the beautiful leatherwork of the brand, it has become a relevant symbol for the conceptual visual communication of the brand," said Chiave.

The Miami store is the French fashion house's second freestanding menswear boutique, the other being in Tokyo. The artistic director of Louis Vuitton's menswear line was Virgil Abloh, who died last November of cancer at the age of 41.

Other Louis Vuitton locations include an Amsterdam boutique by UNStudio that
has bricks made of stainless steel and glass, a Seoul shop by Frank Gehry that is topped with sweeping glass "sails", and a Tokyo flagship store by Jun Aoki & Associates that has an undulating, pearlescent facade.

The photography is by Marcel Wanders Studio.

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Brick screens and patterned metal shutters wrap the outside of this block of row houses in Buenos Aires that was developed by local architects Estudio Mola.

The Complejo 8 ("Complex 8") project is located in Castelar, a city in Argentina that is part of the broader Buenos Aires metropolitan area. As the name suggests, it offers eight single-family residences on the same lot.

Estudio Mola, which is also based in Castelar, divided the longitudinal block into eight row houses, creating exposures on the front and back of each residence.

The 1,400-square-metres building is elevated above the street, which creates a parking space underneath each house.

"The ground floor serves as a main pedestrian and vehicular entrance to all the units," said Estudio Mola.

"There is a pedestrian circulation next to a long concrete wall that guides us to each of the brick boxes, which serve as a private access to each living unit," it added.

On the intermediate floor, the architects designed an open-concept kitchen, living, and dining room that opens out to the backyard.

Because of a grade change on site, they were able to include this outdoor space on the upper level, which is higher than the surrounding streets.

Each of the resident's gardens is separated by a perforated brick wall, offering some privacy without making the outdoor space feel too enclosed.

An open concrete staircase leads residents to the top floor, where the typical layout offers three bedrooms and a bathroom. To enclose the private spaces on this floor, the architects designed a system of white metal shutters.

Since the top floor has a larger footprint, it has the appearance of a uniform volume that fills the entire lot. "The idea of expanding up and out is something very characteristic of this project," said the architects.

"It allows us to connect each home to the outside, receive better sunlight due the elevation of the garden, and keep the vehicle areas isolated," they explained.

On the inside, the studio took a more restrained approach, leaving exposed white walls, raw concrete ceilings, and simple wooden flooring. At either end of the long block, small courtyards filled with vegetation mark a contrast to the building's palette.

Other projects in Buenos Aires include a courtyard house that was extended with a glass-and-steel volume, and a sensitive renovation to a home from the 1930s by Torrado Arquitectos.

The photography is by Javier Agustin Rojas.

Project credits:

Project managers: Alejo Fernandez, Lucas Geya
Design team: Francisco Ricart, Julian Marchetti, Gimena Caffo, Alejo Del Grosso, Marcos Bartellone
Engineer: Claudio Ianesse

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A brise-soleil made of orange-hued ceramic pieces is among the additions to an Asunción house that has been renovated by local firm OMCM Arquitectos.

The project, called Reforma Alas, is located in the Los Laureles neighbourhood in Asunción, the capital of Paraguay. Situated on a rectangular, 520-square-metre site, the house faces a recently paved street that has begun to draw more traffic.

OMCM Arquitectos – a local firm led by led by Matías Ortiz and María Paz Chamorro – was initially commissioned to do a quick renovation that entailed fixing bathrooms, installing a couple of walls and general painting.

Upon investigation, however, the team determined that the house was deteriorating due to leaks and moisture issues. Moreover, the home had narrow spaces that did not offer good lighting and natural ventilation.

"Through a deeper diagnosis in consensus with the owner of the house, we determined that it would be appropriate to take advantage of the occasion to rectify such inconveniences," said OMCM Arquitectos.

"This challenge also gave us the opportunity to provide the building a new identity, more adapted to the requirements of contemporary life and to the climatic context of our region."

Among the changes was the addition of ceramic screens on the front and rear facades. Beyond granting privacy, the screens help reduce solar heat gain – an important consideration in a subtropical climate.

The screens' ceramic pieces are arranged in a V-shaped formation, and gaps in the assembly enable wind to pass through to the home's interior.

According to the architects, wind speed increases as it passes through the screen – a phenomenon known as the Venturi effect, which was discovered by Italian physicist Giovanni Battista Venturi.

"Due to the difference in the inlet and outlet section of the flows, there is an increase of the wind speed and consequently a refreshing sensation, thus obtaining greater thermal comfort and energy savings," the team said.

Within the home, the team made changes to the layout, particularly on the ground level, where walls were removed to create a larger and more fluid public zone.

Upstairs, bathrooms were reconfigured and added, and a front-facing terrace was significantly enlarged. Topping the terrace is a pergola made of salvaged wood.

Beyond the main dwelling, the team rehabilitated a building in the back of the site that holds a barbecue area and service quarters. A channel slab was incorporated to extend and organise the building and make it more functional.

Overall, the home's renovation resulted in spaces that are brighter, larger and better suited for the congregation of family and friends. The revamp also enables the home to better adapt to its evolving context.

"The result is a completely rethought house that is incorporated into the urban fabric in a more coherent and lasting way," the team said.

Other homes in Paraguay include a rural house by Bauen that cantilevers of over a steep and lush landscape, and a dwelling by Javier Corvalán that can be lifted open like the lid of a box.

The photography is by Leo Mendez.

Project credits: 

Construction: OMCM Arquitectos (Matías Ortiz and María Paz Chamorro)
Collaborators: Mauricio Paiva, Camila Sosa
Interns: Ivan Rojas, Yeruti Amarilla

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Ecuadorian firm Natura Futura Arquitectura has created a gym within a slender, multi-storey building that features an open facade covered with tall, wooden screens.

The Bardales Urban Training Center is located in Babahoyo, the capital of the Los Rios province. The town is a trade and processing centre for crops grown in the region, such as rice and bananas.

Designed by local firm Natura Futura Arquitectura, the project is meant to provide much-needed community space for residents.

"These spaces represent the principles of collective life, and are a tool to produce positive impacts on social groups," the team said.

The clients were María and Carlos, a young entrepreneurial couple who had owned a small gym for several years. They decided to expand by opening a facility in a slender structure that rises four levels. Their one-storey home is located next door.

The 650-square-metr project came with a tight budget and required lots of flexibility.

"Bardales was developed with limited resources, where both, technical and material solutions were designed as they became available," the architects said. "It can be said that the limitation was an important source of creativity – to design with what is necessary."

The building has side walls made of exposed brick and concrete block.

The front facade was left open to the air rather than being covered in glass. To shield the interior from rain and solar penetration, the team installed eight-metre-tall, folding screens made of metal and wood.

"In this way, not only is thermal control and safety guaranteed but users are encouraged to have more direct contact with the neighbourhood," the team said.

Inside, the building has spaces for weight training, dancing, cardio equipment and boxing. A rooftop terrace provides views of the city.

Interior finishes include wooden flooring, metal railings and plywood storage lockers.

Dividing walls inside the gym were avoided, in order to create a sense of openness and connection throughout the facility.

"It is proposed to domesticate the spaces of social interaction and open them to the street, with the intention of making it a livable place and generator of memory, where the objective of exercising is as important as meeting your neighbours," the team said.

To save costs, the team reused the building's existing materials wherever possible. They also implemented a bartering system, in which design and construction services were provided in exchange for free gym access.

"In this way, the idea that the city is developed from decisions, agreements, exchanges and ventures of each inhabitant is vindicated," the architects said.

"Bardales reflects on the way in which urban facilities are developed in cities and the usual conditions in which people exercise."

Other projects by Natura Futura Arquitectura include a mirrored viewing platform that projects over a hillside in the Ecuadorian countryside.

The photography is by JAG Studio.

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Dezeen Showroom: the wooden Paravent Ambassade screen, designed by Charlotte Perriand in 1966, has been put into production for the first time courtesy of furniture brand Cassina.

Perriand originally conceived Paravent Ambassade for the residence of the Japanese ambassador to France in Faubourg Saint-Honoré, designed by architect Junzo Sakakura.

The screen contains 313 wooden blocks connected by metal rods, allowing it to be easily adjusted to suit different spaces.

"The furniture was partly integrated into the architecture and partly intended to be mobile," Cassina explained.

The original Paravent Ambassade was made from discarded rosewood pieces from the production of Perriand's Tabouret stools.

But now, the screen has been reimagined in collaboration with Perriand's daughter Pernette Perriand-Barsac and made available in natural oak or Canaletto walnut.

"These wooden elements are offset to create a visual interplay of volume and voids," Cassina said. "An elaborate weave of wood, the screen becomes a work of art that reveals transparencies and at the same time creates privacy."

Product: Paravent Ambassade screen
Designer: Charlotte Perriand
Brand: Cassina
Contact: info@cassina.it

About Dezeen Showroom: Dezeen Showroom offers an affordable space for brands to launch new products and showcase their designers and projects to Dezeen's huge global audience. For more details email showroom@dezeen.com.

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Wooden screens are used to form walls and overhanging roofs in this duo of Costa Rican beach houses by local firm Studio Saxe, which integrate the surrounding jungle into their design.

Dubbed Naia I and Naia II, the homes were created side by side for the same owner in Santa Teresa, a small town on Costa Rica's Pacific shoreline.

A lush forest covers the lot, which the architects wanted to integrate into the design of the homes.

"We decided to blend the tropical jungle into the houses whilst creating bioclimatic comfort for people to enjoy the outdoor experience," said San José-based Studio Saxe.

Of the two houses, Naia I is slightly smaller and comprised of a single-storey structure that is covered by an overhanging roof. The 251-square-metre residence has three bedrooms, each with its own ensuite.

An unenclosed walkway cuts through the home, leading to a pool in the backyard. Communal areas are located on one side of this passage and bedrooms on the other.

"Set within walking distance of the beach, the home is composed of generous rooflines that create shelter and the possibility of living outside within nature," Studio Saxe explained.

Naia II features three bedrooms across two levels but uses a similar scheme, in which a walkway helps to delineate public and private areas.

The main living room is mostly open to the elements. Its steel structure forms a double-height space, within which only the kitchen rests against a solid wall.

"The main living spaces are composed of lightweight steel frames that hold open spaces that welcome nature inside with long rooflines that are made of steel and covered in teak," said Studio Saxe.

In both houses, the bedrooms feature concrete walls for privacy and the floors were given a glossy finish that contrasts with the dense surrounding forest.

Studio Saxe and interior designer Cristina de Freitas selected minimalist finishes to go with the site's tropical setting.

Wooden furniture matches the teak roofs and patterned wall screens, while the bearing steel structure was painted black.

Studio Saxe is led by Benjamin Garcia Saxe. The studio is based in Costa Rica's capital San José and was established in 2004.

Other buildings completed by the firm include a yoga retreat designed with a "simple, low-key, modern tropical architecture," and another home in Santa Teresa that supports an overhanging roof with slender steel columns.

Photography is by Andres Garcia Lachner.

Project credits

Structural engineer: S3
Electromechanical engineer: S3
Builder: Proconsa
Landscape design: Jen Speirs
Interior design: Cristina de Freitas

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Decorative aluminium screens designed to evoke neurons surround the Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences, completed by architecture studio Foster + Partners in Jerusalem, Israel.

The centre, which sits at the heart of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, contains social spaces and laboratories dedicated to the scientific exploration of the brain.

It is distinguished by its three upper levels, which are shrouded by screens that Foster + Partners modelled on Spanish neuroscientist Santiago Ramon y Cajal's drawings of the brain's neurological structure.

According to the studio, the aim of the building is to "attract exceptional scientists, as well as to foster an interest in the centre's research activities within the wider community".

"The project has a progressive social agenda that has been applied at an urban scale, creating a center for research and learning that is truly inclusive," said partner Darron Haylock.

"The new building is located just off the main pedestrian spine of the university and its facade invites exploration, drawing people inside to learn about the research activities."

The Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences comprises two wings, positioned on either side of a central courtyard.

It has a reinforced and post-tensioned concrete structure topped by an overhanging steel roof. The aluminium screens are teamed with locally sourced Jerusalem stone cladding, which continues inside the building.

On the ground floor, the centre houses a mix of teaching facilities, alongside a 200-seat auditorium, library, cafe and gallery to display artwork related to the brain.

The upper levels contain twenty-eight laboratories linked by bridges that double as social hubs, introduced by Foster + Partners to "encourage informal interaction and the exchange of ideas".

A key part of Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences' design is the flexibility of its laboratories, which are column-free thanks to the post-tensioned structure.

This ensures that they can be easily expanded or closed off to meet the needs of evolving research projects or changing research techniques in the future.

"Understanding the enigma of the brain is the most challenging endeavour of the twenty-first century and research in this area is vital to the quality of life for millions of people," said the studio's head of design Spencer de Grey.

"This is one of the most innovative projects of its kind at an Israeli university, with several laboratory complexes that are highly flexible to anticipate and accommodate future change, arranged around an open central courtyard that is at the heart of the scheme."

The Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences' central courtyard is lined with 24 grapefruit trees and a stream that runs its length, intended to offer visitors a quiet and reflective space.

It is topped by a retractable roof made from Ethylene Tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE), which will be used to reduce the heating load in winter and maximise natural ventilation in summer.

Decorative metal screens are often used in architecture to help animate a facade, such as at the Bunhill 2 Energy Centre in London, where Cullinan Studio used them to reflect the activity inside the heat network.

However, they can also be used to help control the flow of light, air and views throughout a building, such as in the AB House by Israeli architect Pitsou Kedem.

Foster + Partners was founded by Norman Foster in London in 1967. The studio also recently completed the PGA Tour HQ in Florida with an oversized roof and opened an Apple in Los Angeles' historic Tower Theatre.

The photography is by Harel Gilboa. 

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Dezeen Showroom: American manufacturer 3form has introduced the Horizon collection of room dividers, which is made from gradient textiles embedded in translucent resin and etched, coloured glass panels.

The Horizon range has a tactile quality that results from the translucent materials combined with the fabric patterns.

The space dividers are made using 3forms' Varia resin as well as coloured glass panels with an etched pattern informed by the gradient motif of the textiles.

Each resin panel is unique and comes in a range of colours informed by dawn and dusk.

"The Horizon collection textiles are washed in rich transitional shades from light to dark blue, light to dark grey and orange to gold, which become gradually softer and more translucent as the panel ascends," the brand said.

The etched glass version, called Horizon Etch, was inspired by the gradient motif of the textiles. The panels are available in dusty blue, neutral taupe and dark grey.

"Horizon leverages our love for open spaces," said 3form's vice president of design Christian Darby.

"It allows us to be connected to those around us while having some level of privacy. When you can see a person's shadow behind a translucent 3form panel, there's comfort knowing there's somebody on the other side."

Product: Horizon collection
Brand: 3form
Contact: info@3-form.com

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Dezeen promotion: material manufacturer 3form has unveiled Horizon, a collection of partition panels to create zoning and privacy while still allowing light through.

The panels are made by combining woven textiles with 3form's translucent resin called Varia, which allows users to "play with colour, texture and light, and leverage the beauty of textiles," according to the brand.

"As more shared spaces adopt natural materials and cosy atmospheres, the Horizon collection contributes depth, warmth, and variety to the sleek surfaces popular from 3form," said 3form.

"The collection artfully balances privacy and togetherness with vertical surfaces that diffuse natural light and bring unexpected warmth and texture to communal spaces."

The embedded textile is crafted with irregular yarns woven together.

The fabric is woven more delicately at the top so that the panels become increasingly translucent.

"The Horizon textiles become more delicate and interspersed as they ascend, permitting natural light and visual connectivity while standing and discretion while seated," said 3form.

The collection is by Christian Darby, 3form's vice president of design, who joined the brand in 2017, having previously worked in apparel design at Nike.

"When we leverage the beauty and the nuance of textiles, we can achieve a look and feel that digital technology can't replicate," said Darby.

"From panel to panel, each one is unique"

Darby developed the collection over two years with Swiss interior upholstery company Création Baumann.

"The woven panels for 3form have been a completely new development," said Rolf Tschan, international sales executive at Création Baumann. "To see the final product has been exciting."

Horizon's colours take reference from dusk and dawn. The textiles come in blue shades called Day (dark to light blue), Tempest (dark to light grey), or Beam (orange to gold).

3form has also launched a new product called Horizon Etch, which comprises coloured glass panels featuring horizontal lines.

"Horizontal linear pattern of pleasantly imperfect lines that are concentrated toward the bottom of the glass panel and gradually disperse toward the top," explained the brand.

Horizon Etch comes in three colours: Steep, a neutral taupe; Orbit, a dusty blue; or Meteorite, a dark grey.

More information on 3form's Horizon collection can be found on the brand's website.

Partnership content

This article was written by Dezeen for 3form as part of a partnership. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.

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Dezeen Showroom: Lintex Unit is a mobile room divider designed by Halleroed for Lintex that was created to meet the evolving needs of work areas and shared spaces.

The Lintex Unit is a mobile room divider that can easily transform from a fixed object to a mobile divider through its retractable wheels.

The design is available in both a portrait and landscape format, and finished with a pearl white or grey textured lacquer. Its feet also come with the same lacquer finish, or alternatively can be ordered in solid oak.

The divider can be fitted with magnetic glass writing surfaces or acoustic absorbing fabrics that allow it to be used as a writing and display board.

The Lintex Unit aims to respond to the changing demand for shared workspaces, allowing spaces to be easily reconfigured through its flexible partition.

Product: Lintex Unit
Designer: Halleroed
Brand: Lintex
Contact: info@lintex.se

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Dezeen Showroom: Filipino designer Jeffrey Ibañez has created Helios, an acoustic panel that doubles up as a room divider, for Swiss brand Impact Acoustic.

Helios features colourful circular acoustic panels mounted to a thin wire frame and can be used for zoning open-plan workspaces.

The design was informed by the Delaunay triangulation, which in geometry describes a particular way of joining points to create a triangular mesh.

According to Ibañez, he chose to incorporate this geometry into the product because it is said to have a calming effect on humans.

Helios is available in a variety of colourways and aims to provide calm and privacy within workspaces.

Product: Helios
Designer: Jeffrey Ibañez
Brand: Impact Acoustic
Contact: connect@impactacoustic.com

About Dezeen Showroom: Dezeen Showroom offers an affordable space for brands to launch new products and showcase their designers and projects to Dezeen's huge global audience. For more details email showroom@dezeen.com.

Dezeen Showroom is an example of partnership content on Dezeen. Find out more about partnership content here.

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Dezeen Showroom: office furniture brand Actiu has released the Agile collection, a series of mobile room dividers and furniture pieces that promote a more adaptable workspace.

The Agile collection includes tables, seats, screens and acoustic panels, designed in response to a growing demand for more flexible workspaces in light of the coronavirus pandemic.

All but one of the pieces sit on castors, allowing them to be easily moved around.

Among the product ranges in the Agile collection is Caddy 500, a series of freestanding screens with plug sockets that can be used to partition spaces or act as whiteboards and display screens for presentations.

The screens can be upholstered to help improve the acoustics of a room or decorated with planters and other accessories.

Grada is a group of mobile grandstands, which can be used as benches or shelves depending on the needs of the space, while the Auxiliar side table with its rounded, asymmetrical edges can be combined with soft seating to provide flexible work stations.

The Agile collection also includes standalone acoustic panels in a wide range of fabrics and colours that double up as decorative elements.

"The time has come to configure safe environments, which incorporate solutions that improve space, productivity and in turn worker satisfaction," said Soledat Berbegal, Actiu's counsellor and head of corporate reputation.

Product: Agile Collection
Brand: Actiu
Contact: press@actiu.com

About Dezeen Showroom: Dezeen Showroom offers an affordable space for brands to launch new products and showcase their designers and projects to Dezeen's huge global audience. For more details email showroom@dezeen.com.

Dezeen Showroom is an example of partnership content on Dezeen. Find out more about partnership content here.

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Dezeen Showroom: Polish brand Vank has released its Vank Wall 3 system of acoustic panels, which is particularly suited to creating home office nooks.

Vank Wall 3 has a highly effective sound-absorbing surface and doubles up as a room divider in order to create both visual and acoustic privacy.

The system can be used for dividing up spaces within offices. But Vank particularly recommends it for the home, where people are increasingly looking to create private nooks for remote working.

The panels are between 160 and 220 centimetres high and upholstered in a synthetic felted fabric, which adds to their sound-absorbing properties. They can also double as information boards or backgrounds for video conference calls.

Vank Wall 3 is made of recycled post-consumer plastic, mainly PET bottles, and sits on a triangular plywood base.

The system is modular, with single panels connected together via fasteners to form a screen of the desired size.

Product: Vank Wall 3
Designer: Anna Vonhausen
Brand: Vank
Contact: export@vank.pl

About Dezeen Showroom: Dezeen Showroom offers an affordable space for brands to launch new products and showcase their designers and projects to Dezeen's huge global audience. For more details email showroom@dezeen.com.

Dezeen Showroom is an example of partnership content on Dezeen. Find out more about partnership content here.

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Danish designer Else-Rikke Bruun blurs the line between fabric and wood with her Textile Veneer screen, highlighted as part of our Dezeen x The Mindcraft Project 2021 collaboration.

One of 10 experimental designs chosen for The Mindcraft Project exhibition, Bruun's screen is made of thin birch plywood veneer that is woven like yarn to create a flexible mesh partition.

No glue or screws are needed to assemble the structure; pieces simply interlock together to hold it in place.

Textile Veneer is the latest in a series of experimental screens by Bruun, who as both an architect and a designer, is drawn to pieces of furniture that can be used to create spaces.

She was inspired to make Textile Veneer after a trip to Mexico, where textile crafts are prominent, and also wanted to explore the applications of computer numerically controlled (CNC) milling.

"By embracing the possibilities of the CNC machine, the craft traditions are updated to a contemporary context," said Bruun.

"The screen reflects light and it illuminated like a lampshade even in soft daylight, and it casts fine decorative shadows when lit with artificial light."

Video is by Benjamin Lund.

Dezeen x The Mindcraft Project

The Mindcraft Project is an annual exhibition presented by the Copenhagen Design Agency to bring the best in explorative and experimental Danish design to the world.

The Dezeen x The Mindcraft Project 2021 collaboration showcases the work of 10 innovative designers and studios from the 2021 digital edition of the exhibition via a series of videos. Watch all the videos as we publish them at: www.dezeen.com/the-mindcraft-project-2021.

Dezeen x The Mindcraft Project 2021 is a partnership between Dezeen and Copenhagen Design Agency. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.

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Dezeen Showroom: Monforte, created by Italian architect and designer Raffaella Mangiarotti for IOC Project Partners, is a sculptural, undulating room divider that can be used to separate desks and entire self-enclosed meeting rooms.

The freestanding, mobile wall comes in different lengths from 120 to 190 centimetres and consists of a series of tubes wrapped in sound-absorbing Kvadrat fabrics.

As the screen is made up of individual modules, which are simply connected via a chain at the bottom, it can easily be reconfigured into different shapes.

Whether running between two tables to create privacy or curving into a snail-shaped wall around a breakout area, Monforte also acts as an acoustic panel to keep out ambient noise and allow for uninterrupted working.

"When I was designing this product I had a dream of a flexible sound-absorbing screen that can shape the space in a smart and fluid way," said Mangiarotti.

"Something that you can change easily depending on the activity you are doing but also something that has a beautiful texture and rhythm."

Product: Monforte
Designer: Raffaella Mangiarotti
Brand: IOC Project Partners
Contact: t.gnoni@ioc.it

About Dezeen Showroom: Dezeen Showroom offers an affordable space for brands to launch new products and showcase their designers and projects to Dezeen's huge global audience. For more details email showroom@dezeen.com.

Dezeen Showroom is an example of partnership content on Dezeen. Find out more about partnership content here.

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Brazilian studio Bruno Rossi has built a delicate pavilion by a lake with wooden brises to control wind flow.

Bruno Rossi's 80-square-metre pavilion is built on a deck that extends over a dam in Santo Antonio de Posse, Brazil.  It was erected to provide shade and to expand the space of the existing jetty, used for nautical and leisure activities.

"The floating pavilion is defined as a simple roof over a deck, appearing as just two planes, floor, and ceiling, which assure leisure and contemplation," the São Paulo studio said.

A series of stone steps connect the platform to an existing wood-clad building set on the grass that overlooks the body of water. The pavilion is designed to blend into the deck and surrounding landscape giving the illusion it is "floating" above the waterway.

"A shading plane over the water, the floating pavilion represents a building with no clear boundaries, without beginning or end, mimetised in the landscape, over the diffusive and reflexive territory of a water," the studio added.

Its construction comprises of a series of laminated timber columns and a large metal shingle roof on top, and was mostly prefabricated and then assembled on site.

Two sides of the pavilion are equipped with wooden screens attached to metallic metal frames. The amount of sunlight and wind let into the interior are controlled by the adjustable screens.

"On both sides of the deck, mobile elements were proposed, composed by wood brises in a metallic frame, in order to block or not the wind flow and sunlight along the day," Bruno Rossi said.

Alternate elevations of the rectangular structure were left open allowing for uninterrupted views of the water in one direction and the verdant scenery of the lawn in the other.

Other simple structures designed for the water include a floating timber structure that forms a shelter, sauna and campfire for visitors to the Soomaa National Park wetlands during flooding.

JCPCDR Architecture, meanwhile, constructed a tiny timber pavilion that invites walkers to "pause and observe" Lake Annecy in France.

Photography is by André Scarpa.

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Folding screens of woven steel surround the upper level of the latest building at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie, which provides three storeys of exhibition, workshop and teaching spaces.

The building, which will be used by the Gerrit Rietveld Academie and Sandberg Institute, was designed by  multidisciplinary design team Federation Levitation (FedLev) led by architect Paulien Bremmer, working in collaboration with local practice Hootsmans Architects.

The latest block is located opposite the independent university's main building designed by Gerrit Rietveld himself and connected by a bridge to a tower block designed by Benthem & Crouwel in the early 2000s.

The design focused on ideas of community and interdisciplinarity that Bremmer felt were underserved by the existing building on campus.

"Experimentation is key at the academy. This essentially means looking across borders and disciplines," said Bremmer.

"The autonomous departmental culture of the academy didn't contribute enough to an interdisciplinary way of working."

As a result, the ground floor of the building centres around a shared atrium-like space that weaves between classrooms that have been pushed to the edges of the plan.

With a simple concrete frame structure, corridors and isolated stairwells have been avoided entirely, with spaces arranged around concrete columns and separated by glazed partitions. A glazed facade wraps around the entire lower level, above which the first floor cantilevers out.

"A modest reshuffle of the existing building's programme made room for a shared space around the base of the building," explained the studio.

"The extension's glass facade can be opened in many places, facilitating interaction in the space between the buildings."

At first floor level, spaces have been provided for the Sandberg Institute, which runs several of the Rietveld Academy's programmes.

On the roof, the ground space occupied by the building has been "given back" with the provision of a communal space that can be used for exhibitions, performances or large-scale constructions.

"The building is a social hub which quite naturally accommodates and spatially connects education, encounter, relaxation and collectivism and in which changing perspectives inform the educational environment," said the practice.

The woven steel that covers the building's upper level was chosen to minimise overheating from sunlight, and the cantilever of the first floor is intended to create covered areas below that can be "claimed" as work or social spaces.

Areas of this steel-clad facade can be folded back to allow more light into the workspaces, mirroring the folding doors at ground floor level.

Internally, finishes have been kept simple, with exposed concrete, block work and simple wooden panelling and light fittings.

Throughout the interiors, white spaces have been introduced, providing areas designed and executed by members of the community, such as one lined in textured tiles.

Paulien Bremmer founded her studio in 2001, and initiated FedLev in 2011. Hootmans Architects, who collaborated on the project, recently completed an extension to a 1970s courthouse in the Dutch city of Zwolle.

Photography is by Johannes Schwartz and Jeroen Verrecht.

Project credits:

Client: Stichting Gerrit Rietveld Academie
Architect: Studio Paulien Bremmer | Fedlev in collaboration with Hootsmans architects
Lead architect: Paulien Bremmer
Team competition to structural design: Paulien Bremmer with Maze de Boer, Sandra Stanionyte, Luca Carboni and Marjan van Herpen, Joost Huyzer, Akira Negishi, Jan Willem Petersen, Luuc Sonke, Victor Verhage, Stephanie Willocx
Team preliminary design to inauguration (Fedlev): Paulien Bremmer, Marjan van Herpen, Joost Huyzer, Anne Dessing, Alexander Lefebvre, Anastasia Pandilovska, Milan Rikhof, Luuc Sonke, Vincka Struben, Claudia Temperilli.
(Hootsmans architects): Rob Hootsmans, Daan Petri, Carlota Alvarado, Remco Bruggink, René Bos, Elke Demyttenaere, Pier Helder, Viktor van Hooff, Jeroen Kreijne, Eric van Noord
Interior design: Studio Paulien Bremmer | Fedlev in collaboration with Hootsmans architects
Design street furniture: Chris Bakker, Anna Navndrup
Interior design Sandberg Instituut: Studio Anne Dessing
Garden design: Jan Konings
Interior design library: Nils Norman and Studio Paulien Bremmer | Fedlev in collaboration with Hootsmans architects
Design ceramic wall: Caro de Jonge
Furniture wood workshop: Workshop managers and Studio Paulien Bremmer | Fedlev in collaboration with Hootsmans architects
Design auditorium curtain: Anastasia Starostenko
Supervision partial designs: Studio Paulien Bremmer | Fedlev in collaboration with Hootsmans architects
Project management partial designs: Femke Bijlsma Contractor: Bouwbedrijf M.J. de Nijs en Zonen
Construction preparation: ABT Ingenieurs
Construction advice: BREED Integrated Design
Building physics and installations advice: moBius consult
Project management: Van Doorn Management for Architecture, ICS Adviseurs and ABT Ingenieurs

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