Articles by Clara Ott

In the heart of Seoul, right beside the historic Joseon Dynasty palace, an emblematic space emerges from the ground. The location of Songhyeon Dong carries a rich and varied history, with changing uses and owners over time. The (in)visible pavilion presents contrasting perspectives: reflecting on the outside, while revealing transparency within. It acts as a temporal connector, transcending the boundaries of time for the 4th Seoul Biennale of Architectureand Urbanism.

This care home in the small municipality of Zoersel was designed on the initiative of a private client. They set up a partnership with non-profit organisation Emmaus to develop a residential project for the family’s granddaughter and eight other residents with a mental disability.

Spread over two buildings, the project has a mixed materiality made of wood, concrete and glass, and is part of a global sustainable development approach combining bioclimatic design, bio-based materials, and energy performance.

The Saracura House is part of a group of row houses built in the 1940s in the Bexiga neighborhood of São Paulo. In resistance to the current real estate speculation in the neighborhood, the renovation of the house seeks to preserve its memory by maintaining the original facade and the existing courtyard configuration. The original structure of the house is revealed, and the historic retaining wall, characteristic of the existing topography of the neighborhood, appears as a visible element from different environments of the house.

The YR Pavilion is an unusual project. A couple – both art collectors – want to expand their garden with the aim of creating a small private park. To do this, they annex a new plot of land next to the existing house, which must include a “Folie”, a habitable sculpture composed of three installations: a massage room, a space for exercise, and a bathroom. The new object must be part of the existing sculpture collection, in addition to allowing for the respective functions.

At km 427 of Provincial Route No. 11, 10 km south of Villa Gesell and only 3 km from the Mar Azul forest, lies El Salvaje, a venture of maritime land, environmentally sustainable both for its low population density and the conditions established by its regulations in relation to environmental care. The regulations determine that all constructions respect the topography, vegetation, and fauna of the place: geography where the horizontality of the pampas plain is cut by the presence of sand dune cords, fixed by grasslands, which run perpendicular to the coast until they disappear into immense beaches.

The spatial and volumetric complexity of the project aren’t the result of a formal strategy, but instead of the materialization of the clients’ programmatic guidelines and constraints: four families with different requirements and sometimes contradictory demands. The resulting spaces and volumes, thus radiate the sensation of being a naturally grown body rooted in the ground, rather than an imposed construction controlled by the architects´ will.