architecture 4 us

Posted: 03 Jun 2010 12:43 AM PDT

This sustainable design of house was made by BSN Architects. This house was designed for an extended family that faced health-related and financial difficulties.

The house has a compact urban form with terraces and roof gardens, while it is located in suburban area. It is a 4 bedrooms sustainable and barrier-free house, that completed with elevator and some sustainable features, such as :

green roof,
solar domestic water pre-heat panels
photovoltaic panels to generate electricity
radiant floor heating
heat recovery technology with advanced air filtering for better air quality
a high-performance envelope well-exceeding residential standards
an underground cistern for rain water collection and bio-filtering of grey water for reuse

To provide competitive costs and efficient assembly, this project was guided by prefab assemblies. This house was provided as donation to the Holmes Group, a registered charity organization.. The house was featured on the popular Holmes on Homes Lien On Me TV show.

Beautiful Design of The Lightcatcher for Whatcom Museum by Olson Kundig Architects

Posted: 02 Jun 2010 07:55 PM PDT

This beautiful design of The Lightcatcher for the Whatcom Museum was made by Olson Kundig Architects. This project was to add an iconic object for the museum to make the museum’s outside as active as the inside.

As the purpose was to make the outside part of the museum more attractive and as active as the inside, a 36 ft tall and 180 ft long translucent wall was chosen. It was not only designed for an ordinary wall, but Olson Kundig also designed it to become a focal point and backdrop to a central courtyard. This central courtyard is used as a city gathering place. The exterior of the museum was also designed as invitation to engage in art and to allow the pedestrians walking by t0 view the art and activity within.

The whole building is not only beautiful, but also has some sustainable features, such as a green roof above the lobby, a rainwater harvesting system, pervious paving, double-skin curtain wall glazing at the lightcatcher wall, and natural ventilation in the public gathering spaces not housing art.