Drakoni House is a 19th-century stone building converted into a holiday home in Crete. It has been uninhabited since 1920. Alterations to the traditional building were kept virtually unnoticeable from the outside and easily reversible in the future. The least possible construction interventions were made, mainly focusing on the restoration and reinforcement of the stone … Read more
Africa Lao had spent her career designing homes from an office in Barcelona, so when she moved to the country to get closer to nature, she was inspired to transform a crumbling 18th century stone barn into a small, minimal dream home. Located in the middle of protected forest, the location was an urban refugee’s … Read more
The Open Space Visitor Center in Albuquerque, NM has erected an all-natural hut for children to gather in and use during field trips to the center. Willow branches had were collected from a nearby field over several days for this purpose. “We can definitely use this hut as an opportunity for a learning space or … Read more
This thatch-roofed tea house supported on bamboo pillars was built in 1986. The 510-square-meter (5490 sf) structure with its high arched roof was inspired by traditional rural residences in the Yangtze River Delta. After undergoing a major, two-year restoration project, it has now reopened to the public. It was designed by Feng Jizhong (1915-2009), who … Read more
ReGrow Willow is an innovative hybrid material system that combines the tensile strength of willow and the compressive strength of earth for architectural applications. The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology also uses digital fabrication processes and computational tools to create lightweight, mobile, and adaptable fabrication equipment. The project further seeks to present a potential remedy for … Read more
The Fab Tree Hab is a grafted living tree structure intended to be shared by people and animals. It combines tree-grafting techniques with cross-laminated timber arch scaffolds. The goal is for a dwelling seamlessly integrated into its natural landscape and to replace harmful industrial materials with durable, bio-based alternatives. Foundation elements use almost no concrete … Read more