Cava Arcari / David Chipperfield Architects

Sitting rather outside of any conventional commission or even typology, the project to design a performance space within the Arcari caves – which used to supply Pietra di Vicenza stone until their closure – evolved through a long professional collaboration between David Chipperfield Architects and the Laboratorio Morseletto, who produce traditional artisanal Venetian stone and marble.

Bamboo in Architecture: Same Material, Different Uses

If we were to design an ideal building material, it would look like bamboo. At least, that's what Neil Thomas, director of the London-based structural engineering firm Atelier One, claims. Its tubular shape, vascular bundles, fast growth rate, and ease of manipulation make it ideal for construction. Today, it is even more interesting to the market as a renewable source with low environmental impact compared to other materials. Additionally, it is extremely versatile and can be used in various ways in construction. Here, we list some of them.

The Untold Story of Cairo's Villa Badran: Organic Architecture in the 1970s

While Egyptian architects were exercising their understanding of modernism in the urban fabric in the 1970s, a “chubby rebellion” in the form of Villa Badran defied the standardized curvilinear forms and rigid geometry. Gamal Bakry dived deep into his imagination to construct this unique piece of architecture that still stands as part of the city of Cairo today. With curving and free-flowing facades, Villa Badran drew inspiration from natural forms. In an attempt to create a living space that was more natural in its essence, the bubbly intervention puts in place a monolithic composition that hosts a two-story detached home for an Egyptian family.

House 0006 / taller11

The project arose from the combined requests expressed by the clients regarding its program and the characteristics of the urban environment in which the project is located, with the added conditioning factors of being a plot between party walls built on one side only, and with a tight initial budget. In relation to the programmatic needs, the users are a couple with two daughters. With this condition, and also adding the clients’ demand for multi-purpose spaces in the house, the required living area is pre-dimensioned: the result is well below the maximum permitted built area (approximately 150 m2 required < 270 m2 possible by regulations, excluding the attic).

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