Swisshouse Rossa, Davide Macullo Architects
Rossa, Switzerland
Visitors to the village of Rossa in the Swiss Alps are coming face-to-face with a shocking pink-and-green-striped structure, an architecture/sculpture hybrid by Swiss practice Davide Macullo Architects and French artist Daniel Buren. While alien to its context in the scenic calanca valley, the building, named Swisshouse rossa, is a simple reinvention of the house archetype. constructed using traditional alpine building materials, the two-level structure is made entirely of wood with a reinforced concrete basement, while Buren’s bold stripes are designed to give a feeling of comfort to those who reside within. As originally featured in the November 2017 issue of Wallpaper* (W*224)
Swisshouse Rossa, Davide Macullo Architects
Rossa, Switzerland
The conceptual artist Daniel Buren is known for changing perspectives of the built environment, previously injecting his colourful vision into Le Corbusier’s Cité Radieuse in Marseille and Frank Gehry’s Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris. now, Buren and Macullo have created their own work of public art and a modern fairytale in the mountains. As originally featured in the November 2017 issue of Wallpaper* (W*224)
Albion Library, Perkins + Will
Toronto, Canada
A public library in Toronto’s Rexdale neighbourhood has been upgraded into an increasingly social space with a colourful terra cotta façade. Located between a residential area and a busy four-lane road, the geometrically playful block was a welcome addition to the largely concrete streetscape. Providing visibility and protection at once, the terra cotta layer covers an inner façade of glazing which allows plenty of light into the heart of the plan where internal courtyards and interior pavilions structure the design. Photography: Doublespace Photography. Writer: Harriet Thorpe
Albion Library, Perkins + Will
Toronto, Canada
The original brief was to close and renovate the existing library, yet architects Perkins + Will decided to build the new library on the underutilized parking lot, so the old library could stay functioning in its vital community role as one of Toronto’s busiest libraries. Now the upgraded library has opened, the former building will be redesigned into a public plaza, parking lot and market square space, as well new trees, seating and public pathways around the site. Photography: Doublespace Photography. Writer: Harriet Thorpe
House S, Jakob + MacFarlane
Paris, France
This house by Jakob + MacFarlane sprouts from a site in the Parisian suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt. ‘It’s in a neighbourhood with several avant- garde houses built in the 1920s and 1930s by the likes of Le Corbusier and Mallet-Stevens,’ says Brendan MacFarlane, who started Jakob + MacFarlane with Dominique Jakob in 1997. The house reflects the shimmering white walls of its iconic precursors but takes a different structural direction. Rising like a fractured ovoid, its edges are defined by a branching tubular steel frame set over an internal steel-panelled skin. Five terraces are scattered throughout, while inside there are not one but two aquariums incorporated into the stair tower. Photography: Roland Halbe. Writer: Jonathan Bell
Southern Utah Museum of Art, Brooks + Scarpa
Utah, US
The sweeping roof of the new Southern Utah Museum of Art follows the shapely sandstone formations found at the nearby Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park. Designed by LA-based architecture practice Brooks + Scarpa, the SUMA is a response to the dramatic Utah landscape, and it is also responsive to the environment: the roof passively collects snow melt and storm water runoff that collects into concealed wells where it is than recharged back into an aquifer. Photography: Tim Hursley. Writer: Harriet Thorpe
