As a Modern Observatory in the Mountains

The Italian architect is on a mission to transform the world’s cities into lush living landscapes—and his next target is Cairo.

Nonprofit organization Pivot is providing low-rent tiny homes to homeless teens—and equipping them with the skills to transition to new apartments.

Thrilled with the beach town location of their summer house, but not with its loud ’90s-era architecture, a family approached Blue Truck Studio with a directive — tone it down. What they had: a house with wild geometry, such as octagon-shaped rooms and triangular spaces. What they wanted: a Sea Ranch aesthetic of simple forms. Blue Truck Studio created an all-new interior of calm, open spaces that flowed easily into one another. For the exterior, the firm reconfigured windows as well as the siding, which wrapped around the house to simplify its form and provide privacy. A pivot door and two large slider doors invite ample light inside while a driveway turned soccer pitch and slatted outdoor shower for hosing off after a trip to the beach reflect the family’s love of recreation and the outdoors.

Remember the days when we were allowed to take work home once in a while and that day felt special as you kicked back, did only what was absolutely must for that day and felt like you got rewarded with a ‘cheat day’ of sorts? Well, thanks to a raging global pandemic those days are […]

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This lodge is a 120m2 house located in a rural scene in a southern region of Chile. The brief was to design a house with two bedrooms and two bathrooms with a main shared space, interpreting an old small traditional southern Chilean dwelling. The challenge of the proposal was to get that traditional southern look, which implies very opaque facades, but with a full translucent side where the landscape and light can get inside the building, creating its own private world. The house is placed between a forest of native trees, giving its back to the main street. So, the house is oriented to the north and west to get the most of sunlight, which this south down is much appreciated. The concept of the design is organized based on 3 contrast between old and new:
1- Removing non-structural walls and floors: the main structural shape and volume are maintained the same as the old traditional house, but the interior is liberated from any non-structural dividing element, which helped to create a clean and continuous space.
2- Concentrating the apertures: The main source of light is the north façade, keeping the other free opaque as a traditional southern house would have, so the proportion of void and mass was not lost.
3- Material contrast: Big floor to ceiling windows in contrast to recycled traditional timber shingles, an evident contrast between old and new. The distribution of the house is developed in an almost square plan, divided into three volumes:
The main one has the public areas of the house: kitchen, dining room, sitting room and mezzanine.
The east one, the widest, has sleeping rooms and bathrooms with the main access of the house.
And the west one is 1.5m wide acting as a corridor and informal dining room adjacent to the public areas of the main volume. The mezzanine is an opportunity to use the roof space, with a lot of light and natural heating, having control over the main space.