Articles by Thuto Vilakazi

Tongass Ledge sits gently perched over the Alaskan shore. Overlooking inlet waters and balanced at the edge of a rock wall, two volumes at a subtle angle capture the breathtaking views of the surrounding landscape. For a busy client who splits time between Seattle and Ketchikan, the complete design required a simple form and program, personalized through highly custom interiors. Standing at the edge of the vibrant Tongass Narrows, the Ledge is the perfect lookout for a nature lover.

Lot K3.1 selected for the construction of the Maison companions occupies a central position within the ZAC de la Haute Maison, near the school of Ponts et Chaussées, the school of architecture, the university library, and the student house.

The implementation of the project offers a new opening towards the Chevreuse valley and the inclination of the building creates perspectives from the street towards the Yvette. In front of the constraint of the slope of the land, the project adopts a principle of breaking down volumes into successive horizontals strata.

“Seaside garden” is designed and being developed as a building complex in one of the Lithuanian resorts, near the coast of the Baltic Sea, Palanga. The neighborhood of the natural environment had a great influence in creating and shaping the future identity of the vacant plot. Thus, there was a need for creating a vibrant live environment all year round. And the residential duplex buildings of aesthetic minimalistic architecture that have “sprouted” in “Seaside garden” are comfortably and practically planned, suitable for living and resting for the whole family.

Objective – Initially, due to the deterioration of the original two-story Thai-style house and the advanced age of the house’s foundation, it was hard to fix. Additionally, the family was growing, and they required more private space, including for their son who was starting his own family. Therefore, the owner thought they should just build a new house and move somewhere else. However, after the architect visited the site and had a conversation with the owner, they realized that the owner still had a lot of emotional attachment to the old house. This was due to memories that spanned 60 years of the owner’s life, during which he had lived in the house built by his own father’s hand. Therefore, the architect came up with the idea of “re-composition” – reassembling the architectural pieces of the old house to create a new piece of architecture that would satisfy the family’s need for expanded functionality, and living space while still reflecting the lifestyle, usage patterns, and atmosphere of the old house.