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Pyiduangsu Hluttaw, or The Assembly of the Union, is the national-level bicameral legislature of Myanmar. It is housed in a 31-building parliamentary complex in the capital city of Nay Pyi Taw, along with the nation’s Supreme Court, Presidential Palace, and other government headquarters. On Monday, just hours before a new session of Myanmar’s parliament was scheduled to open here, the country’s military seized power in a coup, detaining leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other members of her democratically elected ruling party.

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19.775348°, 96.104724°

Source imagery: Maxar

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Once, there was a man called William Lyttle who was known as “The Mole Man of Hackney” due to the random excavations beneath his Victorian duplex. Fearing that the tunnels would cause his house to collapse, Lyttle was removed from his residence, leaving the house to decay. Three years later, the property on 121 Mortimer Road Hackney was acquired by Sue Webster, a British artist who felt that she “was possibly as mad as (Lyttle) to take it on”. Together with David Adjaye who previously designed her (and Tim Noble’s) Dirty House, the duo meticulously preserved and transformed the property into a 256 square metres three-storey studio home, now known as The Mole House.

Initially, Mole House was treated as an archaeological practice due to the aerated concrete used by the Hackney Council to stabilise Lyttle’s fragile tunnels. Of the 2,000 tonnes of concrete, 33 tonnes were unearthed by Adjaye and Webster to uncover Lyttle’s unconventional material made of newspapers and odd pipes. Along with remnants of the aerated concrete, these existing elements were later incorporated into Mole House’s newly made sunken garden that gently softens the sharp triangular property. Other unearthed elements, including a series of Thomasson-staircases, were kept for the landscape, contrasting the sharp stairs that Adjaye placed for access from the front garden.

Related: David Adjaye’s Lost House In King’s Cross, London.

Webster, who was adamant in preserving as much of Mole Man’s legacy, refused to have the house rebuilt ‘brick by brick’. Instead, 15,000 rescued bricks were used to patch damaged areas to maintain its dishevelled appearance of sprayed paint and splayed stucco. Internally, rotting timber frames and walls were completely gutted and reinforced with a cross-shaped exposed concrete structure that simultaneously divides each floor into four spaces. Adjaye, wanting to “create a balance between contrasts and continuity” paired the concrete with white walls and timber floorboards, joinery, and staircases. The former collapsed roof once patched with a scandalous lingerie ad is replaced with a new slate holding a large openable skylight. Existing windows are refitted with bronze framing, and street-facing ones are coated with a mirror vinyl for mystery and privacy.

The dramatic renovation of the derelict interior directed the Mole House to match the contemporary times. The ground floor warmly welcomes visitors with a cohesive open-plan; and upstairs is fitted with the main bedroom, kickboxing space, guest room, drawing desk and a bathroom. Artworks created by Webster and Noble are thoughtfully scattered throughout.

Related: Vila Calando in Yanggu-gun, South Korea by Chiasmus Partners.

Paying homage to Lyttle’s peculiar hobby, Adjaye introduces several entrances to the house, with one of them being the secondary access into Webster’s art studio via the sunken garden. The basement, also accessible from the ground floor via a cantilevered staircase, is doubled in height, with windows placed at ceiling level to expand the ambience. You can say that there is an irony to have the studio located in the basement, as it parallels the origins of Lyttle’s tunnels.

For an artist who “(works with) junk”, I’d almost say that it was fate when Webster cycled past the house full of chaos and madness. Along with Adjaye’s excitement and curiosity, mixed with a cocktail of tenacity and patience – Mole House is revived to continually fuel eccentric manifestations while protecting an urban legend from becoming an urban myth.

After all, it’s not everyday one would have a Fantastic Mr. Fox-like neighbour who enjoys digging underground networks beneath his home, and then the digging would be so severe it caused a sinkhole.

| The article Mole House in Hackney, London by David Adjaye. appeared first on Yellowtrace. |

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Check out the amazing rock formations on display in this Overview of Chad’s Borkou Region. Covering more than 93,000 square miles (240,000 square km) in the Sahara Desert, Borkou is the largest region in the country but houses less than 1% of its population — just 97,251 people. In the top left of this Overview is Emi Koussi, a pyroclastic shield volcano and the highest point in Chad at 11,204 feet (3,415 meters).

See more here: https://bit.ly/2YARAUA

19.789330°, 18.550998°

Source imagery: Airbus Space

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Patrick Bernatz Ward has respectfully reinterpreted the heritage vernacular of Summit House in Los Angeles, creating a home that fuses the arts & crafts style with contemporary finishes. Originally built in 1907, the home has undergone several different renovations, each one adding to the overgrowing story that is now permanently woven into its structure. “Flexible programming, local finishes, and considered detailing lend themselves to a home that is both respectful of the past and conducive to the present,” says Bernatz Ward.

Summit House sits on a corner lot within LA’s historic Lincoln Heights. Resting among a series of foothills and mesas above the Arroyo Seco and Los Angeles River, this neighbourhood was once home to many of the city’s OG pioneer families who used local river stone, wood, and clay in the construction of their homes.

A palette of earthy tones used throughout the property references this historical narrative, creating a scheme that sits in harmony within its surroundings. Oak flooring, lime-washed plaster, and moody, green-toned shutters combine to create a character-filled space that feels warm and welcoming.

The kitchen is lined with painted groove panelling, walnut slab counters, and locally made black terracotta tile. A unique copper lantern sits above the custom banquette designed by Bernatz Ward. Arched doorways create gentle distinctions between spaces, softening the robust scheme while still allowing for seamless movement throughout the floor plan.

“Primarily dressed in neutrals, the living room is lined by moody, green-toned shutters and is anchored by an oiled, red Gum Eucalyptus built-in sofa made especially for the space,” explains the designer. “Tying the spaces together, the adjacent office utilizes the same dark green shutters. An antique Mexican desk, copper Lindsay Adelman table lamp, and repurposed Greta Grossman chair flank the westward view of the downtown skyline.”

Despite being a reinterpretation of past styles, Summit House is a refreshing take on the contemporary home. In a landscape where clean black lines and glass-clad facades reign supreme, this humble house feels very special indeed.

| The article Summit House in Los Angeles by Patrick Bernatz Ward. appeared first on Yellowtrace. |

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The post Hypocrites: How to Survive in a World that’s Full of Them appeared first on Nir and Far.

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Tokyo-based design firm I IN have unveiled Warp Studio for Mitsui Fudosan – their concept for a new type of office space. The design marks a direct shift from a conventional office layout, where individual desks and separated cubicles become mere memories. Instead, an open floor plate provides spaces for relaxation, collaborative discussion, and unprogrammed activities.

Warp Studio stands as a cross between an edgy nightclub and the walls of your family living room – two things that conventionally would never be grouped together. However, the designers focused on extracting the best out of each typology to create a new kind of space that feels experimental and fresh. The floor level dips down in the centre creating a large lounging area, complete with velvet carpet and soft blue-hued couches. Individual chairs and curving steel-framed furnishings sit together in clusters across the room, allowing those who engage with them to decide how they are used.

Gradient lighting colours dimly light the spaces – vivid blue shades slowly melt into an electric pink. The colours transform the interior and transport all those who are within to somewhere else entirely, bringing a sense of freedom and wonder rarely associated with the workplace.

The designers explain they endeavoured to create a place where, “people can feel the future”, therefore technology has been used as “a way of expressing newness”.

I IN describe a meeting room as being “surrounded by a plastered curved wall with soft shading. Through the glass, using characteristic colour gradation, slight coloured light flows into the room. By rebuilding light, shape, materials and the way people spend their time at work, the whole office became a comfortable space, while presenting a new view of the future”.

Spaces unfold with a futuristic feel. A light-weight grid metal structure is left exposed on the ceiling, along with a suspended white light. Its clinical brightness, along with glossy tiled flooring, is reminiscent of the shiny interiors of a spaceship.

“High-resolution screens with high-output images flow in the centre of the office, emitting colour-lit images throughout the workplace. By blurring the boundaries between the image and reality, we aimed for an expression that symbolized the true future,” conclude I IN.

Related: Jinmao Capital J Space Office in Beijing by DAGA Architects.

| The article Living Room meets Nightclub at Warp Studio Office for Mitsui Fudosan by I IN in Tokyo. appeared first on Yellowtrace. |

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Tahoe Keys is a waterfront gated community in El Dorado County, California, USA. Built in the 1960s, the community consists of more than 1,500 homes on a series of canals that connect to Lake Tahoe. Its construction destroyed half of the Upper Truckee Marsh, the primary filter for river water entering the lake, and has since been called the most environmentally damaging intrusion on the lakeshore in Lake Tahoe’s human history.

See more here: https://bit.ly/3oBsNtS

38.931667°, -120.013611°

Source imagery: Maxar

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Tehran-based ZAV Architects have unveiled their award-winning multipurpose cultural residence, comprising vibrant rammed earth domes that form part of a broader social and cultural initiative on Hormuz Island in Iran.

A formerly glorious historic port in the Persian Gulf, Hormuz Island controls the shipment of petroleum from the Middle East. Unfortunately, the local inhabitants of this beautiful, tourist and politically strategic island struggle economically and get involved in illegal trafficking activities using their boats.

“Presence on Hormuz” is a series of urban developments by a semi-public institution seeks to empower the local island community through architecture. Dubbed “Majara residence” (translating to adventure), this is the second phase of the initiative that ties together the lives of local people and visitors both culturally and economically.

Read on for an edited statement from ZAV architects about this fascinating, thought-provoking project.

Related: Villa Cheshm Cheran in Minudasht, Iran by ZAV Architects.

What’s for my benefit, what’s for the benefit of all?

In a country where the state struggles with political disputes outside its borders, every architectural project becomes a proposal for internal governing alternatives, posing basic questions like what are the limits of architecture and how can it suggest a political alternative for communal life? How can it attain social agency?

Architecture has the capacity to be a mediator in the middle ground that converges the interests of different groups, from the state and investors to various classes and groups of people. Majara does so by bringing together the owners of the land from the neighbouring port of Bandar Abbas (who organize an annual landmark event in Hormuz), the investors from the capital city Tehran, and the local people of Hormuz as partners in the project.

Under the economic distress of sanctions, increasing the GDP generates social change, which in this project is achieved in four steps. One – building economically, to the benefit of the client. Two – earmarking a bigger share of the budget to labour costs rather than expensive imported materials. This approach benefits the local population, empowering them by offering training for construction skills. Three – an adaptive and future-proof spatial scenario respond to unscripted usage need, to the benefit of the client and the island. Four – using materials and human resources from Iran, the development reduces construction and transport costs and increase the GDP, to the benefit of the whole country.

Infinite Nader Khalili

Presence in Hormuz is a continuous process aiming at building trust rather than mere architectural objects, in order to encourage the participation of local people and the inclusion of their interests in any intervention in the island.

The project is a multitude of small-scale domes built with the superadobe technique championed by Iranian architect Nader Khalili (born 1936 in Tehran, died 2008 in Los Angeles), the innovative and simple technique using rammed earth and sand. Domes are familiar structures in the region. Their small scale makes them compatible with the building capabilities of local craftsmen and unskilled workers, which have been prepared for this project with previous smaller developments. Today these workers are trained master superadobe masons, as if Nader Khalili multiplied exponentially.

Swelling Earth

The infinite number of colourful particles, be they soil, sand, gravel or stone, pile up and form the rainbow topography of Hormuz Island. In this project, a “carpet” is woven with granular knots inspired by the particles that make up the ecotone of the island. The sandbags that create the spatial particles (aka domes) are filled with the dredging sand of the Hormuz dock, as if the earth has swollen to produce space for accommodation.

| The article Community Empowerment via Urban Development: Presence in Hormuz 02, Iran by ZAV Architects. appeared first on Yellowtrace. |

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Soekarno-Hatta International Airport is the primary airport serving the Jakarta metropolitan area in Indonesia. It handled 66.9 million passengers in 2018, making it the 18th busiest airport in the world and the busiest in Southeast Asia. The airport’s boarding pavilions are examples of classic Indonesian architecture with roofs built in the Javanese stepped-roof style.

See more here: https://bit.ly/3r3C1ko

-6.127523°, 106.651512°

Source imagery: Airbus Space

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This Overview shows downtown Portland, Oregon, on the banks of the Willamette River. With more than 650,000 inhabitants, it is Oregon’s largest and most-populous city and the second-most populous in the Pacific Northwest. Portland’s cityscape is defined by its numerous bridges, many of which are historic and the three most traveled — Hawthorne Bridge, Steel Bridge and Broadway Bridge — are more than 100 years old.

See more here: https://bit.ly/3cmvqxj

45.520000°, -122.681944°

Source imagery: Nearmap