The Haegumgang Hotel is the world’s first floating hotel. After a 14,000 km journey through Singapore, Australia and Vietnam, it is currently docked on the east coast of North Korea.
The International Fair of Dakar, Postcolonial Architecture and Identity
North of the city of Dakar, not far from the airport, a set of pyramidal volumes form the International Fair of Dakar complex. This building demonstrates the growth of Senegal and more broadly the growing influence of modernism in West Africa. But more than that, it is above all the expression of an architectural identity of its own, the asymmetrical parallelism, which reflects the postcolonial ambition of the country.
Ilha Musical, Decio Tozzi
In one of the last urban voids of São Paulo, Decio Tozzi designed the Villa-Lobos Park with a music city theme. Its center was conceived as a musical oasis and its different infrastructures, such as the Ilha Musical, are organized around music and culture.
Verona, Ralph Erskine’s Studio Boat
On a Swedish island, not far from Stockholm, is moored the Verona. The sailboat belonging to the architect Ralph Erskine has been completely restructured to accommodate his studio and his collaborators.
Resolute Bay, Ralph Erskine and the Arctic Utopia
In the 1950s, following its High Arctic Relocation Program, the Canadian government deported Inuit families to form the colony of Resolute Bay as a means of ensuring its supremacy over the Arctic lands. In 1970, architect Ralph Erskine was asked to design a project to solve the structural problems caused by this process.
Casa Carvajal, a Brutalist House on a Slope
After a successful first part of his career the Spanish architect Javier Carvajal built the Casa Carvajal for his family. This 1000m² house made of rough concrete is remarkable for its spatial articulation and its adaptation to the surrounding environment.
Giuseppe Davanzo, Foro Boario di Padova
The Foro Boario is a livestock market built in the mid-60s in Padova, Italia. Its ingenious design built in prefabricated concrete modules did not find its place in the unbridled context of an expanding city.
The Round House in Moscow
The Moscow round house (or Bublik) was built in a difficult context of housing crisis in the USSR. The circular shape makes it an example of Khrushchyovka structure, different from the standardized and monotonous buildings of that time.
Heinz Bienefeld, Brick, Spaces and Surfaces
Heinz Bienefeld was a German architect who used brick both to give expression to his volumes and to construct his details. His work is marked by the relationship between form and surface through the use of this material.
Espai Verd, A Vegetal Urban Cathedral
The Espai Verd is a modular housing complex built in Valencia following a reflection combining vegetation and community. This example of bio-climatic architecture deals with many environmental issues in a hybrid building with a forest backbone spreading throughout the spaces.