Magazine

Although "good bones" is an overused phrase (enough that it's the name of a reality TV show), it's a fitting argument for renovating a building rather than tearing down and starting anew. The Hollyridge House, in the shadow of the Hollywood Sign, is just such a residential... AUX Architecture

The relationship between architecture and music is a rich one, evident most famously in Goethe's assertion that "architecture is frozen music." Architects continue to find inspiration in music, especially when the building program aligns with music, as with this music hall for... Sander Architects

Much of Lone Tree, Colorado, just south of Denver, is bisected by the wide, six-lane Lincoln Avenue, an east-west thorougfare that carries around 80,000 cars every day. To knit walking trails and developments on both sides of Lincoln, the City of Lone Tree built a pedestrian bridge designed by... Fentress Architects

Site and privacy considerations drove the design of this single-family house in Cary, the North Carolina town located about ten miles west of the state capital, Raleigh. The architects at in situ studio split the house into two pavilions — living and sleeping — linking them by an... in situ studio

One refreshing trend this century is libraries being recognized not just as repositories of books, but as important civic spaces. In turn, the design of libraries is improving in many ways: usability, flexibility, and quality of space, to name but a few. In some cases, such as with the Scituate... Oudens Ello Architecture

The name of this house in Santa Fe, New Mexico, is an apt one, referring to the 125-foot-long skylight that casts shadows upon the adjacent board-formed concrete wall. The wall also serves to divide the parts of the house in plan: living spaces, bedrooms and porch on the skylight side; kitchen,... Specht Architects

In this first-of-a-kind case, the Shenzhen government has leased 35 handshake towers in an urban village from the former farmers, with the aim of converting them into affordable housing. During the planning phase, six owners of residential towers withdrew, making the situation more... Eduard Kögel

Lichen prevalent on the Oaks on an 8.5-acre site in Glen Ellen, north of San Francisco, inspired the design of the aptly named Lichen House. Schwartz and Architecture (S^A) designed a T-shaped plan to fit the site and roof overhangs with metal fins that create lichen-like shadows. The architects... Schwartz and Architecture

The Voxman Music Building is one of three recently completed arts buildings at the University of Iowa in Iowa City. Of the three, it is the only one situated downtown rather than on campus. This situation gives the building a public face, and the architects responded with a design that links the... LMN Architects

The Murphy Arts District is a multi-phase project that includes a number of performance venues, outdoor spaces, and renovations of old buildings for the small town of El Dorado, Arkansas. The first phase was completed in September 2017, the same month DLR Group acquired Westlake Reed Leskosky.... DLR Group|Westlake Reed Leskosky

Brick outside and wood inside, the Filson Historical Society's Owsley Brown II History Center narrates the history of the Ohio River Valley in a manner that is local yet contemporary. Nominated recently for the de Leon & Primmer Architecture Workshop

Buffalo Bayou Park consists of waterfront parks, bike trails, pedestrian bridges, and other features that make it a Houston destination. The Cistern is a found treasure that sits within the park and gives people another reason to visit. Transformed subtly yet dramatically by Page (Page... Page (Page Southerland Page, Inc.)

The White Oak Music Hall (WOMH) is a three-stage music complex that sits on seven acres just north of downtown Houston. In addition to the Main Hall and Small Room in the Main Venue, the complex includes The Lawn for outdoor performances and a bar in the repurposed Raven Tower. SCHAUM/SHIEH... SCHAUM/SHIEH

Hyde Park is a neighborhood on Chicago's South Side that is anchored by the University of Chicago. Although the school has been in the midst of a building boom this century, other parts of the neighborhood are also flourishing. Vue53, a mixed-used building designed by Valerio Dewalt Train... Valerio Dewalt Train Associates

This cabin, perched on a granite outcropping in New Hampshire's White Mountains, is shaped by the landscape. A faceted form bends to the terrain and distant views, and conceals a simple rectangular plan that later accommodates the client's family of four on their weekend outings. I-Kanda... I-Kanda Architects

Architect Mell Lawrence is no stranger to designing structures for parks: in 2011 he completed the Cotillion Pavilion in Dallas, a rain shelter, sunshade, and weather vane that we featured as a... Mell Lawrence Architects

More than a dozen years in the making, the Elmhurst Branch Library in New York City's borough of Queens is an important civic space that caters to the highly diverse community. Open since the last month of 2016, the library is a bustling space that uses color to orient patrons, landscape to... Marpillero Pollak Architects

Nine years from commission to completion is not unheralded for a work of architecture, but it is an exceptionally long timeframe for a 3,000-square-foot expansion of a small branch library in Queens, New York. Design and construction of the Kew Gardens Hills Library were so far apart that WORK... WORK Architecture Company

Inspired by the ubiquitous board and batten siding prevalent in the region, this house in Vermont looks like a contemporary rendition of vernacular buildings. Dark and mirrored panels alternate with slender windows to create a rhythm broken up by expanses of glass that take advantage of the... Birdseye Design

Countering a trend in Japanese residential architecture where "the outer shell becomes ever more fortified for insulation and earthquake safety," ikmo has designed a house in Nagareyama that incorporates a number of traditional techniques while providing modern spaces for its... ikmo

Although modern houses on Long Island are in the minority, when compared with oversized McMansions, most of them tend to congregate in the various Hamptons clustered about 100 miles east of Manhattan. Not so with this modern gem in Bellport, a small village on the island's south shore quite a... Toshihiro Oki Architect

The brick exterior walls wrapping A/D/O, the new creative space opened by MINI, look much like the other graffiti-covered warehouses in this industrial stretch of Greenpoint, Brooklyn. But a triangular "porch" at one corner make it clear that something different is going on inside. The... nARCHITECTS

It's very difficult to sustain an architectural concept from gestation to completion, in many cases due to the involvement of the client, that practical entity that isn't so concerned about concepts. In the case of the Sleeve House a couple hours north of New York City, it's clear the... actual / office

Lake Ranwu lies about halfway between Lhasa in Tibet and Chengdu in the Chinese province of Sichuan, on National Highway 318. The lake is roughly 20 kilometres long, 1.5 kilometres wide, and is separated into lower, middle and upper sections. The surrounding landscape has a natural... Eduard Kögel

From the street, One North is a daring mixed-use project that attracts a fair amount of attention through its wood-clad elevations that curve into projecting glazed portals. On the inside, the buildings create a courtyard, a public space for residents of Portland, while behind the facades are... Holst Architecture

If not for the carved gable form, what lies behind the primarily solid facade of reclaimed wood in an East Dallas neighborhood would be a mystery. As described by Buchanan Architecture, the single-family house is like a series of individual “buildings” separated by outdoor patios... Buchanan Architecture

Shou Sugi Ban – the traditional Japanese technique that translates to "burnt cedar board" – covers the exterior of this house in Austin's Travis Heights neighborhood. Selected in response to the clients wishes and the unique characteristics of the sloped site, the wood... Tim Cuppett Architects

The ski resort at Lake Songhua in the Jilin Province of northeast China attracts skiers and winter sports enthusiasts. Its slopes are open from the end of November until early March. The resort was renovated in 2014, and is now an important destination for winter tourism, with 31 km of slopes and... Eduard Kögel

The name given this residential renovation is a fitting one: A main feature of Los Angeles architect Dan Brunn's renovation of a 1975 Frank Gehry house is hidden behind a large pivoting wall. In addition to the "Hide Out," the project includes a sculptural wood stair that references... Dan Brunn Architecture

All universities experience growing pains, especially those in big cities. For Boston's Northeastern University, growth led them to a brownfield site south of some railroad tracks for its Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Complex. Payette contributed a strong architectural... Payette

The Aspen Community School is one of two charter schools in Colorado's Roaring Fork Valley run by Compass, a nonprofit educational organization that has served the area since 1970. Located on a beautiful site in Woody Creek, the K-8 school recently expanded, adding a new classroom building... Studio B Architecture + Interiors

S9 Architecture, though a relatively young firm, is very busy, with numerous projects in design and under construction, most of them in and around New York City, where they are based. For this week's Building of the Week, S9 Architecture sent us some text and images of 160 East 22nd Street, a... S9 Architecture

Fans of post-Bilbao Frank Gehry who head to Merriweather Park in Columbia, Maryland, to see the architect's recently restored Merriweather Post Pavilion might be disappointed: the wood-clad structure, completed in 1967, is much tamer than his later buildings. Fortunately they can find solace... MARC FORNES / THEVERYMANY

It is difficult to say how many practicing Christians there are in China today. Officially, they make up about two and a half per cent of the total population, but it is most probable that many are not registered as practicing Christians. The developing Chinese economy has also given... Eduard Kögel

The name of this project in Fayetteville, the city that is home to the University of Arkansas, appears to fuse the "man cave" – the bastion of masculinity carved from garages, basements or other spaces in suburban houses – and the museum. Sitting on a sizable twenty-acre... Modus Studio

This year the building housing Harvard University's Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology in Cambridge, Massachusetts, turns 140. A few years ago Boston's Kennedy & Violich Architecture designed a brick-and-copper addition for the Department of Anthropology that is contemporary... Kennedy & Violich Architecture