Cool Design News

Cool Design News

Cool Design News featuring great design, architecture, fashion, graphics and innovation from across the globe.

 

Hill Wind

Hill Wind is a resort hotel located in Anji County, Huzhou. The external form follows modern architectural thinking, with geometric cloud shapes drawn from the origami concept and extended into irregular volumes. A white membrane material is joined to these forms through structural changes. Inside, a narrow entrance passage creates a deep sense of space, and a continuously flowing ceiling is shaped and stitched by craftsmen. Bamboo and wood from the Anji area are used as building materials. The project covers 3500 square meters and echoes the surrounding natural landscape.

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Z Line House

Z Line House is a private house located in Semarang, Indonesia. The design uses a parametric system to shape both the geometry and the structure. A series of calculated, sculptural interventions defines the facade, while the interior spaces are planned for fluid transitions in both horizontal and vertical directions. The geometry is optimized to control water flow during the heavy rainfall of the tropical climate. A detailed solar study guided the eastern and western facades, and the openings follow view axes, occupant height and the even distribution of natural light.

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Solar Skywalks

World's metropolises - like Beijing - have a large number of footbridges traversing busy traffic arteries. They are often unattractive, downgrading the overall urban impression. Designers' idea of cladding the footbridges with aesthetic, power generating PV modules and transforming them into attractive city spots is not only sustainable but creates a sculptural diversity that becomes an eye-catcher in the cityscape. E-car or E-bike charging stations under the footbridges utilize the solar energy directly on site.

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HKBCF - Passenger Clearance Building

HK Port Passenger Clearance Building is a border crossing facility for the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, a sea crossing that links Hong Kong with Zhuhai and Macao. The building works as a transport hub and provides clearance for passengers and goods. A wave-form roof, 310 metres long and 162 metres wide, shelters the building. The roof is made of steelwork and is divided into structural bays supported by arms that span 36 by 18 metres. Modular roof units were pre-fabricated offsite for efficient construction. The building stands on a reclaimed island.

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Casa Una

In a park in the city of Uberlandia, Brazil stands Casa Una, a community center and gathering space for park visitors and neighborhood residents. In addition to other uses, it has an open auditorium, a food hall, an office for the neighborhood association, and an exhibition space. Built with a laminated timber structure, the building uses energy-saving passive ventilation and thermal comfort techniques. Lastly, the roof is topped with three species of vegetation covered in a geometric pattern, reducing the heat gained from solar exposure and acting as a fifth facade when viewed from above.

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Saint Peter House

Designed from the philosophy of participatory design low tech high customization, this house is conceived from bricks, a material widely used in San Pedro Cholula region in an ancestral way from the knowledge of the local workforce in the construction system. The main skin of the house has 3 formats for accommodating the bricks; double wall, lattice, and spike from where its expressiveness starts, which are distributed in a functional way to close, gain natural light or ventilate the interior spaces with windows in openings and other times through a double semi-solid facade.

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