Widlund House by Claesson Koivisto Rune; photo courtesy of the architects

Equally, or perhaps even more known for their furniture and product design rather than architectural projects, the prominent Swedish practice Claesson Koivisto Rune have recently completed this crisp-white, minimalist, seafront villa. Located on the second largest Swedish island of Öland, the development is made of solid white, precast concrete which enabled the architects to achieve ‘the ultimate precision in manufacturing tolerance and colour/finish.’ (more…)

Josef Albers and students in a group critique at the Bauhaus Dessau, 1928-29. The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation. © Phyllis Umbehr/Galerie Kicken Berlin/ DACS 2012 © Otto Umbehr (Umbo

‘Junge Menschen – kommt ans Bauhaus!’ read a 1929 promotional brochure written by the Swiss architect and second director of the Bauhaus school Hannes Meyer. Now, more than eighty years later, the same slogan has been inscribed above the entrance to London’s Barbican Art Gallery where a new, extensive exhibition surveying the world’s most famous modern art and design school has opened earlier this month. Set among customarily black, red and white walls, the Bauhaus: Art as Life is an impressive showcase (the biggest show dedicated to the 1919-founded school and its masters to be held in the UK for more than four decades) of more than 400 works spanning across the mediums of architecture, product design, furniture, painting, textiles, photography, film and theatre. (more…)

Miami Beach SoundScape West 8 2011 © Robin Hill for West 8

It could be argued that the pinnacle of urban landscape architecture was reached in seventeenth century France and the French formal gardens of Jacques Boyceau and André Le Nôtre, or in Britain in the nineteenth century, when Joseph Paxton and John Nash were transforming former Royal Hunting grounds into places for Victorian gentry to promenade. Contemporary urban architects and designers are rarely afforded the same amount of space, money and time as their antecedents and are more often tasked with transforming abandoned plots, redundant structures or characterless inner city areas into suitable places for public recreation. Here, Architonic looks at some recent successes that add value to their surroundings by pushing the boundaries of park design. (by Alyn Griffiths)

read the ‘Park life: the evolving approach to designing urban public space’ article in full on Architonic

House in Kaijin by fuse-atelier; photo courtesy of the architects

Located in a densely built-up centre of Funabashi, northwestern Chiba Prefecture, this sombre, minimalist residence was developed by a a Japanese architectural practice fuse-atelier in 2010. Supported by a reinforced concrete structure, the three storey 91-square-meters house comprises a large and airy open-plan living room and kitchen area, a light-flooded bathroom, as well as an office space and an adjacent outdoor terrace. (more…)

Trollstigen lookout point by Reiulf Ramstad Architects

An exhibition exploring works of Norway’s two most prominent and pioneering architectural practices, Reiulf Ramstad Architects and Jensen & Skodvin Architects, is currently on show at London’s Royal Institute of British Architects. On view until 15 June 2012, ‘Contemporary Norwegian Architecture – Landscape and Intervention’ surveys projects realised by both offices through a series of exhibits such as richly detailed models and images. A number of accompanying events such as film screenings are also scheduled with the fist one titled Knut Åsdam: Urban Transformations taking place this coming Sunday (29 April). (more…)

Mirror House by MLRP; photo by Stamers Kontor

As part of the new Interactive Playground Project in Copenhagen, an American-Danish architectural practice MLRP have converted a disused, dilapidated structure into this striking playground pavilion by cladding its gables and shutters with highly reflective mirror polished stainless steel. Completed in 2011, the renovation transformed the previously nondescript, unusable building into ‘Mirror House’ which is now used by kindergarten classes. In order to improve the energy efficiency of the structure, insulation values, sun shading, heating, ventilation and lighting systems have also been upgraded. (more…)

Luthold House, Allen Gelbin Architect, 1966, New Canaan, CT; photo © Pedro E. Guerrero, Courtesy Edward CellaArt+Architecture

This coming Thursday (5 April) sees an opening of exhibition dedicated to an extensive body of work the acclaimed, Arizona-born photographer Pedro E. Guerrero. Titled ‘Pedro E. Guerrero: Photographs of Modern Life‘, the retrospective ‘will highlight the diversity of Guerrero’s subjects taken over seven decades, which included the architecture of Marcel Breuer, Philip Johnson, Edward Durell Stone, and Eero Saarinen, and ranged from portraits of architects to commercial work for House & Garden, Vogue, the New York Times Magazine, and Architectural Record.’ (more…)

Stealth Barn by Carl Turner Architects; photo by Tim Crocker and Jeremy Phillips

Set among a vast, scenic greenery of the Cambridgeshire fens, this monolith, uniformly black structure has been completed earlier last year by a London-based practice Carl Turner Architects. Developed as a guest house, studio or meeting place, the semi open-plan, sterling board-clad interior of Stealth Barn offers three separate sleeping, living and dining areas as well as a kitchen and a bathroom. Built within a budget of £30K, the development has recently been shortlisted for the Architect’s Journal Small Projects 2012. (more…)