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'Cucoon' was the winning project

What would you do with a kilometer of wood? 

Wood Works is a recently established institution which is enganged in new and alternative possibilities for the use of wood. Earlier this August Wood Works organised the International Wood Festival  for the first time. The workshop and exhibition took place in one of Copenhagen’s beautiful parks, right next to the States Museum of Art. Designers, architects, carpenters and everybody else who had an idea what to do with unlimited amounts of wood and screws was invited to realise their proposals within three days.

Construction of 'Cucoon'

A jury of art and architecural experts selected 3 prizewinners. The first prize went to ‘Cucoon’, a pavilion realised by the team  Meyer & Co.

The Copenhagen International Wood Festival

to the Wood Works website

The Royal Norwegian Embassy in Nepal, Photo by Guri Dahl

The Norwegian practice Kristin Jarmund Architects presented the new Royal Norwegian Embassy in Kathmandu, Nepal last year.

“The New Norwegian Embassy been been built on the north end of the existing embassy site in Patan part of Kathmandu. The building is integrated into the slope of the site, allowing plateaus of outdoor space to extend into the building. A south facing intimate patio is directly linked to the vestibule inside.”

The Royal Norwegian Embassy in Nepal by Kristin Jarmund Architects

“The facade, facing the Himalayen Mountains, is architecturally expressed by an added volume, which raises above the main entrance of the otherwise single-storey building. This added volume contains – among other functions – the Ambassador’s office and is accented by a dynamic zigzag panoramic window, which footprint makes a tribute to and reflects the Himalayas. 

The Embassy is constructed from local materials, with local laboureres, and the intention is to integrate the building with the surrounding city texture.”

The Royal Norwegian Embassy in Nepal by Kristin Jarmund Architects

The Royal Norwegian Embassy in Nepal by Kristin Jarmund Architects

seen @ Plusmood

to the Kristin Jarmund Architects website

$700 House designed by the architects Jan Schreiber and Stefan Becker

Founded in 2002 the Danish non-profit organisation INDEX:’s mission is to secure high-quality design to improve life internationally. With their yearly INDEX:Award they honor design and architecture projects in five categories: Body, Home, Work, Play and Community. The winners in five categories will each receive 100,000 euros.

This year’s 72 design finalists will be on public view at the INDEX:Award Exhibition, Kongens Nytorv, Copenhagen, starting August 21, 2009.

One of the finalists is the $700 House by the German architects Jan Schreiber and Stefan Becker, who planned this projects with the Technical University in Berlin.

Details: $700 House

The design is specifically intended for extremely poor countries in Latin America that have suffered from natural disasters such as earthquakes. To families and people who need proper, durable and affordable re-housing, this solution offers flexible construction that costs no more than $700. The house can easily be dismantled, moved and rebuilt on a new site with the same materials. Furthermore, its strong but flexible structure makes the design resistant to earthquakes.

“Our aim was to create a cheap and safe “real” house that could be constructed in a short time by volunteers and future owners,” said the german architects behind the design, Jan Schreiber and Stefan Becker.

Construction of the $700 House

“Based on the fact that bricks are very cheap, widespread and locally produced in most latin-american countries on the one hand and the competition´s requirement of demountability on the other hand, we tried to work with pre-stressing instead of mortar. The walls are made of perforated bricks, tensioned between foundation and ring beam made of precast conrete elements. For pre-stressing we used a system of the packaging industry that is normally used to secure heavy goods: Sintetic fiber strips, stressed with a hand operated tightener. These strips can hold up to 50kN, depending on the width and are quiet cheap as well.”

to the INDEX: website

more information about the $700 House

'Essay' by Cecilie Manz

The Danish designer Cecilie Manz is known for her minimalist and unostentatious creations, which sometimes even seem to convey Japanese influences. Since she founded her studio more than 10 years ago prestigious manufacturers such as Nils Holger Moorman and Lightyears have been her clients. Recently the Danish manufacturer Fritz Hansen presented ‘Essay’, a dining room table created by Cecilie Manz.

'Essay' by Cecilie Manz for Fritz Hansen

The table’s clear and simple design, above all details like the gap between tabletop and base, makes the solid wood appear light and stylish. 

‘Essay’ can be extended with black linoleum leaves, and several bases are possible. It is suitable both as a dining table and a work table.

'Essay' extended

more Fritz Hansen products @ Architonic

more Cecilie Manz products @ Architonic

'Osler House' by Marcio Kogan

Osler House is located in Brasilia, the capital of Brazil, a city which is a world reference for urban planning. It is very similar in the following with Gama Issa House – also designed by Marcio Kogan. Basically, we still have the parallelogram box, but the second top part of the box is enlarged in dimensions from its base and is pivoted and rotated to a 90 degree angle.  Osler House basically forms the letter T when one looks at the site plan.

'Osler House' by Marcio Kogan

The plan of Osler House is arranged by a ground floor parallelogram volume, a suspended volume and a deck with an outdoor pool.  The concrete and wooden base volume houses the master bedroom, another bedroom, bathroom, laundry room, the utility area and the garage.  The vertical wooden shutters offer a natural light filtration while letting the sun shine in.  However, they can be open out entirely to connect the interior with the exterior, and furthermore bring more natural light and cross-ventilation into the house.   These vertical wooden shutters are evocative of other elements which are commonly used in the modern city. 

'Osler House' in Brasilia

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