Month: March 2023

Life in Berlin. Over the past few decades, alongside the daily rat race of real estate sharks, big investors and ongoing gentrification, a popular alternative model – the housing cooperative – has been gaining ground. The Baugruppe D2, consisting of 15 families, was fortunate enough to get hold of one of the last building plots in central Neukölln. Their task for the IFUB* was to design an ecological, friendly, yet modern house that is well integrated into the city surroundings, with plenty of greenery and both courtyard and rooftop communal spaces. Baugruppen are a popular approach in Berlin when it comes to creating new living space. Several parties join forces, pooling their common interests and finances, to build one or more houses. Baugruppen combine the advantages of a condo (privately-owned units) with those of a housing cooperative (shared-ownership of communal spaces). The beauty of this model? The future owners are involved in the process from day one and can take an active role in the project’s concept and design.

A young family based on the northern beaches of Sydney bought an existing house located high in the trees at the back of a steep block. The existing house was constrained by high-level access and an unsatisfactory outdoor space. We were enlisted to review the possibilities and options.

the architects built the ‘tea house pavilion’ on the occasion of mood for wood’s 2022 workshop program.
The post bordering a lake, grau architects’ wooden pavilion in czechia nods to japanese tea houses appeared first on designboom | architectur…

Raga Svara, as in the words of its founders, focuses on the therapeutic, aesthetic, philosophical, and ecological well-being of oneself in conjunction with the surroundings. Raga’s logo “Pause” indicates all those who enter this green haven consciously pause in time, reflect, listen to the body in synergy with nature, and get rejuvenated in an educational way. With such a clear vision for Raga, the onus on the architects was to make minimal interventions in the existing landscape and have nature take precedence.

The project involved combining two penthouse apartments, their respective car parking, rooftops, and exterior spaces to create a singular inter-generational family home with an abundance of flexible living and working spaces, a basement rehabilitation spa, and two rooftop sukkah pavilions.