#im-pei

#im-pei

The teal green table has a triangular plan and a folded surface, with one half flat and the other rising at an angle from the center net.

The ballroom design features impractical elements like a stairway to nowhere and fake windows, emphasizing a focus on flashiness over functionality.

The style is characterized by raw, exposed concrete and bold geometric forms. You've certainly seen it before in many cultural and civic buildings built between the 1950s and '70s. With countless examples spanning countries and continents, the look has both historical significance and remains popular-particularly in residential design-today.

Each Philippe Starck-designed villa begins with a grounded base formed in stone to give weight to the lower levels and establish a tactile connection to the earth. Above, the architect designs lighter structures, where glass and slender framing open the interiors toward the horizon.

Designed by noted residential architect Roland E. Coate, the home was built in 1926 for Annie Wilson, daughter of pioneering Southern California businessman and politician Benjamin Wilson, for whom Mt. Wilson is named. The gently sloping 1-acre-plus property was once part of the vast holdings of George S. Patton, father of the famed U.S. general.

With a cornucopia of credits to his name-having designed some of Asia's hottest new hotels including the Waldorf Astoria Osaka, Capella Taipei, and Upper House Hong Kong; restaurants like Duddell's and Estro in Hong Kong; and even furniture for Louis Vuitton-Fu needs as much artistic inspiration as he can get to fuel his work. Fortunately, he doesn't have to go far in this dynamic city: "There's the ultramodern and chic, yes, but the city's spirit is rooted in places that are grounded and authentic," he says.

The project is structured around the concept of 'Abstract Landscape,' drawing from principles in Chinese landscape painting that prioritize spiritual interpretation over literal representation. Rather than replicating historical forms, the design translates landscape qualities into geometric compositions and spatial sequences. Abstract volumes reference the condition of distant mountains and nearby waters, while controlled color contrasts establish a clear visual framework.

Gropius, who from 1919 to 1928 directed the Bauhaus in Weimar and Dessau, designed the house in 1921-22 for lawyer Fritz Otte. The property is considered a dramatic evolution of Gropius's earlier seminal Haus Sommerfeld, which was also located in Berlin, but destroyed in World War II. The Bauhaus founder embraced a forward-looking approach with an unadorned, sharp-edged structure that rejected the heaviness of 19th-century historicism.

The project took six years from initial strategy to completion, with the design evolving from form-first to function-driven, and finally to a moderately diversified approach.

The Architect Elevator is a metaphor-in reality, the company leadership may be sitting on the same building floor as you; my car metaphors could fill an entire book; and " Architecture is Selling Options " has become the anchor of many architecture keynotes. So, at least my world of architecture is full of metaphors.

A sprawling tale of two Singapores, the short documentary Sandcastles draws connections between Singapore, Michigan - a 19th-century ghost town swallowed by sand following widespread deforestation - and the island country of Singapore, where rapid development and land reclamation has, for decades, been enabled by the importation of sand. More poetic exploration than call to action, the work surveys waterways, cycles of development and the transient nature of sand - deceptively sturdy over short timescales but, over decades, quite volatile.

"The idea is that intention is not the whole story," says Selene Yap, a co-curator of the Biennale. "Systems can generate a certain kind of afterlife, and there are side effects." While the waterfall impresses, it also has consequences, she adds. The work uncovers how Singapore imports hydropower through transnational infrastructure, including the Vajiralongkorn Dam, whose construction has displaced Thailand's indigenous Karen hill tribe, forcing many to live in floating homes on the reservoir.

Singapore, Michigan, was a thriving lumber town in the late 1800s, until erosion from mass deforestation caused the surrounding sand dunes to shift and swallow it whole. Yet just as quickly as the town disappeared under sand, its namesake in the East emerged from it: Around the world, Singapore is renowned for its use of land reclamation - importing sand to increase landmass and spur urban development.

We didn't have any specific guidelines; rather, there was complete trust and a lot of fun. Since they're my friends, we understood each other very well. That creative freedom led to a complete transformation of the small apartment, which is in a modernist townhouse from the 1930s.

This elongated entrance sequence establishes a gradual transition from the public urban environment to the private domestic space. Enclosed by stone walls and a timber ceiling, the passage leads into a double-height living area that opens onto the central courtyard, creating immediate visual and spatial continuity across levels. The courtyard functions as the core of the house, mediating environmental performance and spatial organization.

Every architectural project is the result of deliberate choices. Beyond form and function, buildings embody technical, political, and cultural decisions that shape their relationship with both their surroundings and the people who inhabit them. ArchDaily's AD Narratives series explores these processes by bringing together accounts that trace projects from initial conception to built realization. In parallel, the AD Classics series turns to works of historical significance, presenting not only the stories behind these buildings but also technical drawings

Postmodernism began as a critique of modernism's exhausted promises. By the late 1960s and early 1970s, many designers no longer treated modernism as radical or socially redemptive. Urban renewal projects accelerated the demolition of historic neighborhoods, and landmark preservation battles raised urgent questions about what the United States valued and, ultimately, protected. The loss of major civic icons, including New York's Penn Station, sharpened public awareness that progress often arrives through erasure.

Lotus Clubhouse was conceived as a living organism that breathes in harmony with the terrain and surrounding natural environment.

The project's design concept originates from the upper-level bedroom, conceived as a personal retreat oriented toward the sky and surrounding rooftops. Located on the third floor, the room is defined by a large glazed opening that frames views outward while allowing daylight to penetrate deep into the interior. The window opening is proportioned to resemble a simple hut-like frame, reinforcing a direct visual relationship with the sky and an existing mango tree preserved on the site.