View full sizeJeanne Gang's Aqua Tower, an 82-story, mixed-use skyscraper in Chicago, has gained much acclaim. The MacArthur Foundation, in its profile of Gang, says the "undulating countours of Aqua's balconies infuse the familiar high-rise profile with an unusual optical poetry," while also noting its eco-friendly features.Future of suburban design:
Chicago
-- a 2011 MacArthur Fellow -- and writer
discuss rethinking and reshaping the suburbs to cope with what they see as "a suburban transformation that went little noticed during the housing bubble and bust: suburbs have replaced inner cities as the destination of choice for new immigrants."
In
they point to a mismatch between new arrivals' needs and the type of housing stock available, using as an example the town of Cicero, Ill.:
"Most of Cicero's housing is detached, single-family homes. But these are too expensive for many immigrants, so five or six families often squeeze into one of Cicero's brick bungalows. This creates unstable financial situations, neighborhood tensions and falling real estate values.
"Too often, we see such mismatches as a purely financial issue. But instead of forcing families to fit into a house, what if we rearranged the house to fit them?
"This doesn't mean bulldozing Cicero's housing stock. Instead, it means using existing, underused properties that might be renovated to provide a better fit. In Cicero's case, that might mean turning to the scores of abandoned factories around it.
"... (N)ew techniques like "phytoremediation" -- using plants like poplar and willow trees to absorb toxins -- open the door to safer, less-expensive rehabilitation.
There's a problem, however: What they propose is illegal under Cicero's zoning code -- a typical situation for suburban towns, which tend to segregate residential from commercial or industrial uses. Also, under the town's zoning code, "family" doesn't include large, multigenerational groups.
Read more about Gang's proposal for Cicero, "The Garden in the Machine," developed for the Museum of Modern Art's "Foreclosed: Rehousing the American Dream" exhibition, at the
and
The "Foreclosed" exhibition closes Aug. 13.
But they're not serious all the time at Studio Gang: For the lighter side, check out their
a contribution to the popular cat/architecture meme.
Extended families:
On a similar note to the Cicero discussion, a couple of articles lately have looked at a shift in homebuilding to cater to extended families:
- Newser.com:
- Latino.foxnews.com:
Stereoscopic House:
Designed by Singapore-based Pencil Office, this house provides privacy from neighboring homes on either side and frames views. What's particularly appealing is the way the house plays with light. Perforated shutters on the front of the house (facing the street) allow the occupants to control the amount of privacy and light.
Designboom says: "The language of the perforated screens is continued throughout the house to facilitate natural cross ventilation and daylighting. A series of angular skylights and organically-shaped openings in the ceiling create an ever-changing play of light and shadow."
Check out the
Museum sells PNC SmartHome:
A house built by the Cleveland Museum of Natural History as an interactive green-building exhibit, and moved to a permanent site last October, recently sold to a Maryland couple for $331,000. The PNC SmartHome was billed as Cleveland's only residence "deliberately built without a furnace" and cost about $560,000 to build.
"In addition to the heat-recovery ventilation system, super-thick insulation, airtight SIP construction, and high-performance, German-made windows and doors that helped the Doty & Miller Architects-designed home achieve passive house-dom, it boasts an impressive laundry list of additional green features: EnergyStar appliances, LED lighting, dual flush toilets and water-saving fixtures, recycled glass countertops, reclaimed hardwood flooring, sustainable landscaping, and, of course, the use of zero-VOC paints, finishes, and other materials to ensure optimum indoor air quality. After the move, the home was placed on a site with an insulated concrete form foundation. There's also a detached garage with a photovoltaic-ready roof."
Check out the photos and see more about
-- those tilting triple-pane windows and the thick front door are impressive.
And the couple who bought it? They were just in town to visit family when they happened to drive by the house and spot the "for sale" sign.
Sliding walls:
This 2,300-square-foot, modernist Australian home -- called
-- designed by
brings the outside in with sliding walls and external movable screens.
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