Articles by Paula Pintos

Falcon House is situated on an island without electricity or running water. The project by PAT. architetti associati in collaboration with Ferdinando Fagnola for this residence on Manda Island, overlooking the ancient city of Lamu in Kenya, is ingeniously designed to harness the forces of nature and adapt to its conditions. The architectural layout of the house consists of separate, raised rooms, allowing the prevailing winds (the Kaskazi, blowing from the northeast between December and March, and the Kusi, blowing from the south between April and September) to naturally cool the rooms, eliminating the need for air conditioning. Electricity, generated through photovoltaic panels, powers a desalination system, converting seawater into potable water for domestic use. Rainwater collected in tanks also contributes to the water supply.

Falcon House is situated on an island without electricity or running water. The project by PAT. architetti associati in collaboration with Ferdinando Fagnola for this residence on Manda Island, overlooking the ancient city of Lamu in Kenya, is ingeniously designed to harness the forces of nature and adapt to its conditions. The architectural layout of the house consists of separate, raised rooms, allowing the prevailing winds (the Kaskazi, blowing from the northeast between December and March, and the Kusi, blowing from the south between April and September) to naturally cool the rooms, eliminating the need for air conditioning. Electricity, generated through photovoltaic panels, powers a desalination system, converting seawater into potable water for domestic use. Rainwater collected in tanks also contributes to the water supply.

Following the firm’s design philosophy of finding design solutions between landscape, climate, and client needs, Rangr Studio’s second house in the Berkeley Hills, Buena Vista House, followed the same design strategies as its first: to take advantage of the sunny yet chilly microclimate to maximize solar heat gain, and to provide direct cross-ventilation to allow the dry air to cool the trapped heat — creating living spaces that are open to the outside air throughout the year.

Nestled in the tranquil haven of a lush forest, and bordered by a river, Rustic Grade is a south-facing chalet initially envisioned as the ideal mini-home to escape the hustle and bustle of daily life in the outside world. Its design by Maurice Martel Architecte is the result of deep reflection on harmoniously blending with the natural surroundings, and it invites you on a journey of contemplation and spiritual renewal.

Feline Chalet is a ski chalet situated on a beautiful rural landscape in Collingwood, which has views towards two mountains – the Blue Mountain on the north-west and the Osler Bluff on the south-west – and a small creek flowing into Georgian Bay on the east end. Responding to the rich and complex characteristics of the site and the client’s vision for a refuge, the project is resolved into three discrete structures – the public/living / ceremonial (the “hut”), the transitional (the “bridge”), and the private / sleeping / functional (the “cave”) – arranged from west to east respectively on the north edge of the site.

In one of the areas of former Ljubljana suburbs, where bourgeois houses were built during the interwar period, stands an unusual hybrid. The original house with its cubic volume, typical of the early modernism of the 1930s, with semicircle fringes and scanty details stretches towards the garden with its modern addition – a light floating pavilion. The pavilion uses the original volumes’ curvatures as a formal starting point, but we can tell by its expression the unmistakable continuity of works from Ljubljana architectural studio Ofis. When clients and architects met for the first time the house was far from its former glory.

This project began as a collaboration between an artist and architectural historian who commissioned us to build a new residence on their compact lot in Central Austin. Their vision involved creating a new dwelling unit at the rear of the property while preserving their existing 1940s cottage.