Aboday architects

Villa Paya-Paya by Aboday architects

Architects Aboday have completed a holiday home called Villa Paya-Paya in Bali, Indonesia. The two-storey building is arranged around courtyards and surrounded by water of varying depth, which creates a shallow pond at the entrance, jacuzzi and large swimming pool.The building itself consists of a concrete, box-shaped facade with a separate master bedroom, made using traditional wooden construction and a coconut leaf roof. The site was formerly a papaya plantation and pig farm, situated in a residential area of the island.

Korkeasaari Zoo by Beckmann – Nthepe and TN+

French architects Beckmann-N’Thépé and landscape designers TN+ have won a competition to remodel Korkeasaari Zoo in Helsinki, Finland. The proposal involves creating a large glass-domed entrance and animal viewing building on the island zoo, and bringing back polar bears after a 30-year absence. The architectural interventions of the zoological island of Korkeasaari will be concentrated to make it wild and mysterious once more – a park / garden as a place of popular privilege, the nobility of the future city.

A Shining Solar Skyscraper for Shenzen

      Austrian architecture firm Coop Himmelb(l)au recently won first prize in a competition to design a shimmering skyscraper that will house the new headquarters of the China Insurance Group. The 49 story tower will rise over the central business district of Shenzhen, a thriving economic center on China’s southern shore. The flowing outer skin of the building will be lined with photovoltaic cells and will feature mechanisms to increase wind resistance, shade the interiors from sunlight, provide natural ventilation, and display multimedia banners.

Mecanoo’s Sustainable Social Housing in Malaga, Spain

      Delft-based firm Mecanoo Architecten recently began construction on a new green public housing project in Málaga, Spain. Sustainability plays an integral part in the construction of the project, which is located in a new development on the outskirts of Málaga called Universidad. The development comprises 170 residences and it was designed with solar paneling to minimize energy use, and alternating heights of five or six stories to allow natural ventilation and natural light to penetrate the interior spaces.