Stonecutting is the largest trade in the area but is a wasteful process that discards more than half of its produce, so architect Ramin Mehdizadeh of Tehran studio Architecture by Collective Terrain (AbCT) decided to recycle the material and use it as cladding for a building.

"There are some very nice characteristics of this waste, and one is that the thicknesses are all the same," says Mehdizadeh, explaining how easy it is to stack the pieces in rows to form a wall.

"The form is very familiar for the people, because the origin of this form is the quarries, and that's why even a contemporary piece of architecture could sit here easily," he says.

AbCT built up the stones around each elevation of Apartment No. 1, a five-storey block that contains eight apartments on its upper floors and two shops at ground level.

The variations in colour, size and texture give a natural pattern to the walls, which angle outwards at intervals to shield small windows from direct sunlight.

Larger windows are screened by timber shutters made from locally milled wood. Designed in response to the conservative lifestyle of the local community, the shutters help to regulate light and temperature in the apartments at the hottest times of the year.

The building is one of 20 projects on the shortlist for the Aga Khan Award 2013, alongside an Islamic cemetery in Austria and the reconstruction of a refugee camp in Lebanon. Five or six finalists will be revealed later this year and will compete to win the $1 million prize. See more shortlisted projects for the Aga Khan Award.

Photography is by Omid Khodapanahi.

Here's a short project description from the award organisers:

Apartment No. 1

The majority of Mahallat's economy is engaged in the business of cutting and treating stone, over half of which is discarded due to inefficiencies in stone-cutting technology.

This project turns the inefficiency to economic and environmental advantage by reusing leftover stones for both exterior and some interior walls, and has led to the increasing adoption of stone recycling by local builders.

The five-storey structure comprises two ground-level retail spaces and eight three-bedroom apartments above. Its austere prismatic form is balanced by the warmth of the natural materials. Small windows are shielded by triangular stone protrusions, and larger ones have wooden shutters that allow residents to regulate light and temperature levels.

Location: Mahallat, Iran (Central Asia)
Architect: AbCT - Architecture by Collective Terrain, Tehran, Iran
Client: Ramin Mehdizadeh, Hossein Sohrabpoor, Mehdi Mehdizadeh
Completed: 2010
Design: 2007
Site size: Ground floor area: 260 m2 - Total site area: 420 m2

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by AbCT appeared first on Dezeen.

As one of three architect-designed installations for the Urban Stories exhibition of contemporary living, Kengo Kuma's Naturescape was designed as an interpretation of a traditional Japanese Zen garden.

Cascading stone strata formed a series of undulating curves around the room. Pools of water formed at some of the lowest levels, while others contained clusters of bamboo trees planted in gravel.

"The clean and pure Pietra Serena stone is used so as to recreate a topography that, as in real landscapes, moulds the shape of water, guides our walking and gives a context to the objects to better admire them," says Kengo Kuma and Associates.

The installation was located in one of the buildings of the Porta Nuova Varesine complex, a new skyscraper district designed by architects including Cesar Pelli, Stefano Boeri and Nicholas Grimshaw. It was used as a showroom for furniture between 9 and 14 April, alongside spaces designed by Michele de Lucchi and Diego Grandi.

Other recent projects by Kengo Kuma include an experimental house in Japan and a fashion boutique in China. See more architecture by Kengo Kuma.

See more projects from Milan 2013, including offices of the future imagined by Jean Nouvel and a courtyard installation of rotating cork platforms by the Bouroullecs.

Photography is by Giovanni Desandre, apart from otherwise stated.

Here's some more information from the exhibition organisers:

In the spectacular skyline of Porta Nuova Varesine in Milan, on the occasion of the Fuorisalone collateral event, three exceptional architects are 'staging' three extraordinary suggestions of contemporary living.

Michele De Lucchi, Diego Grandi and Kengo Kuma, 'tell' their Urban Stories, through unique and thrilling installations, for an eagerly-awaited event, which supplements the busy schedule of Fuorisalone events.

Urban Stories, organised by MoscaPartners, with the collaboration of Hines, is a spin-off from the extraordinary success of Bologna Water Design 2012, the exclusive event dedicated to water design, which involved the city's most prestigious venues during the Cersaie show in September.

The limelight is therefore cast on Urban Stories and its stars, who thanks to the enthusiastic participation of major leading companies in a variety of industries will give rise to charming captivating set-ups.

The focus of Urban Stories is the Porta Nuova Varesine complex, which is the result of an ambitious urban and architectural replanning project involving large areas of the Isola, Varesine and Garibaldi districts, developed and implemented by famous architects, including Cesar Pelli, Stefano Boeri and Nicholas Grimshaw, under the direction of Hines Italia Sgr, promoter and investor.

The original installations created by Michele De Lucchi, Diego Grandi and Kengo Kuma will transform the important display spaces of the 'new centre of Milan' into an exceptional cultural box, ready to welcome the curious multifarious public who animates the most important and eagerly-awaited international design event every year.

Urban Stories are therefore not just simple installations, but proper 'seductions', resulting from a sensitive way of designing to imagine the landscape within our cities and outside them.

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by Kengo Kuma appeared first on Dezeen.

The single-storey Carnivan House overlooks the sea from a cliff-top vantage point in Fethard on Sea, so Aughey O'Flaherty Architects designed the residence with floor-to-ceiling windows and a rooftop terrace.

The building features an L-shaped plan with a square lawn on the eastern side, where it can benefit from morning sunlight but is also protected from the prevailing south-westerly wind.

Narrow terraces are tucked into recesses along three different elevations. Framed by polished concrete and with glazing behind, these inserts exaggerate the thickness of the exterior walls.

The entrance to the house is at the outer corner and leads through to an open-plan living and dining room in the southern wing, or to four bedrooms in the eastern wing. An indoor staircase ascends to the roof, where the private terrace is screened behind a parapet wall.

Other recently completed houses in Ireland include a seaside residence with two wooden halves and a rural cottage with four limestone extensions. See more Irish houses on Dezeen.

Photography is by Marie Louise Halpenny.

Here's a project description from Aughey O'Flaherty Architects:

This project is a new house on a site by the sea in Wexford. The site is located on a headland, Baginbun Head, a protected scenic amenity area. It contains a Norman wall and is bounded on three sides by cliffs and sea. The challenge was to deal with the potentially conflicting objectives of creating a home that was sensitive to this beautiful landscape and that also made the most of it.

The form of the house is a simple L shape. This is a response to function, the path of the sun through the day and to the wind.

The living accommodation is located in one wing, which is dual aspect and avails of the east-west orientation. The bedroom accommodation is located in the other wing and avails of the north-south orientation. The entrance and services are located in the intersection of the two wings. This square intersection has a low ceiling height to enable a roof terrace, positioned above. This is open to the sky and concealed within the roof profile.

The building is kept low and the L shape plan is rotated to avoid the prevailing winds, regularly wild, from the sea to the west. The two wings protect and shelter a south-facing garden which completes the square.

Three external covered spaces are cut into the L, in the form of niches, of varying depth. The entrance porch is located in a recess on the more public, northern side. A south-facing terrace opens the bedroom wing to the garden. A long west-facing covered porch opens the living room wing to the wonderful landscape and the views of sea and sunset to the west.

Above: site plan - click for larger image

The building was designed to be energy efficient and cheap to run. The house is a combination of new and traditional construction technologies. The house is a super insulated air-tight prefabricated timber structure, slowly wrapped in a local random rubble, sitting on a polished concrete base. Its layout and detail were guided by the principles of sustainable design.

Above: floor plan - click for larger image

The use of natural light is integral. There are tall ceiling heights and large areas of full-height-glazing and sliding screens located to maximize the solar gain.

Above: section one - click for larger image

The east, west and north façades are exceptionally thermally efficient. It was designed with a marsh grass roof to increase thermal efficiency and link it with the ground.

Above: section two - click for larger image

The house is 260m² in size. The design process began in Jan 2008 and the house was completed June 2012.

Above: section three - click for larger image

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by Aughey O'Flaherty Architects appeared first on Dezeen.

Home to a family of four, the two-storey residence sits at the edge of Cedarvale Park, a steeply sloping ravine surrounded by woodland.

Drew Mandel Architects used locally quarried stone blocks in three different sizes to create irregular courses on the building's exterior. To contrast, zinc clads the cantilevered first floor and richly coloured walnut covers a selection of surfaces inside the house.

"The restrained and limited material palette avoids unnecessary ornamentation in order to focus one's attention on the site, natural light, and movement through modulated open spaces," say the architects.

The volume of the house is broken down into modules, which step back and forth on both floors to create two patios at ground floor level and a vegetable garden on the roof.

The architects explain this as a "pushing and pulling" that mediates between the residential context at the front and the woodland area at the rear. "The sculptural expression solves programmatic requirements, maximises views, provides natural light, and enhances the promenade and transition from suburban streetscape to very primal forms of nature," they add.

A glazed single-storey block at the back contains the living room and offers a view back towards the park.

The overhanging first floor cantilevers out beside it and hovers above an outdoor swimming pool. To support the weight of the cantilever, the architects added a single concrete wall and a series of concealed trusses.

A double-height dining room is positioned at the centre of the house and splits the first floor into two wings. A mezzanine corridor runs between.

Other Canadian houses completed in recent years a house built with concrete bricks in Québec and a timber-clad house on a hillside.

See more architecture in Canada »

Here's some more information from Drew Mandel Architects:

Cedarvale Ravine House
Toronto, Canada

The Cedarvale Ravine House is a 3350 square feet home for a family of four that is located at the edge of the Toronto Cedarvale Ravine. The ravine system, the most distinctive feature of Toronto's geography, comprises of extraordinary arteries that flow through the city giving unique access to the wilderness. This infill house sits on a typical mid-town residential neighborhood street, but opens to protected woodlands at the rear of the property. The building mass is formed by pushing and pulling the desired volume across the site. It is further manipulated with void spaces. The sculptural expression solves programmatic requirements, maximises views, provides natural light, and enhances the promenade and transition from suburban streetscape to very primal forms of nature.

The circulation of the house weaves through a modulation of intimate and expansive spaces and courtyards that lead to a glass-enclosed single-storey space at the rear of the property. This is the kitchen and family room, the heart of the house. It also defines the south edge of the courtyard. This volume has been pushed down to one storey in order to permit light to the interior and views out to the ravine. Large expanses of glass dematerialise the monolithic stone building and dissolve boundaries between the interior and exterior.

The building is clad in custom local Ontario stone masonry units. 2", 3" and 4" tall stone courses are laid in an irregular sequence. The random lengths of stone range from 1'-0" to 4'-0" and intend to emphasise the horizontal lines of the building.

Above: site plan - click for larger image

At the second floor, a zinc-clad cantilevered superstructure frames views from the inside and gestures to the woodlands. It floats above and beyond the main stone volume and allows the re-naturalised ravine plantings to be brought farther into the site. A lap pool reflects light into the space under the second floor cantilever where a family can enjoy outdoor activities around the pool and barbeque.

Above: ground floor plan

The reaching superstructure is the structural feature of the project. Its one storey high trusses are embedded in walls and are supported on an exposed slender column. Column supports are reduced by diffusing the overturning forces into both the roof and floor diaphragms. A series of space-defining vertical planes and a mass concrete wall are used for lateral resistance. The floating rear volume is complimented by a carport cantilever reaching to the front property line. Its structure is a three-point steel framing system with wood infill, sitting on cantilevered concrete walls.

Above: first floor plan

The private areas located on the second floor feature operable floor-to-ceiling glazing with sliding interior wooden shutters. The system allows one to control sunlight, privacy, air flow, and noise as desired.

Above: long section one - click for larger image

The second floor diverges into two wings separated by a double height dining space and its adjacent open courtyard. This connection space is traversed by a bridge that leads to access to a green roof.

Above: long section two - click for larger image

It contains a vegetable garden for family meals, while insulating the one-storey family room-kitchen below. Both the courtyard and the green roof spaces support the local conservation authority's interest to have the rear of the property re-naturalised as part of a larger ravine stewardship program. With much of the rear planted, these green spaces provide additional amenity space and more complex and modulated volumes. The ravine is brought to the foreground at the second floor spaces.

Above: elevation - click for larger image

The restrained and limited material palette of stone, walnut, and concrete avoids unnecessary ornamentation in order to focus one's attention on the site, natural light, and movement through modulated open spaces. The Cedarvale Ravine House provides opportunities to celebrate the everyday rituals of residential life and enhances the slow unfolding experience of a special site.

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by Drew Mandel Architects appeared first on Dezeen.

The 80-metre-long wall may look like a historic structure, but the architects actually constructed it as part of the project. "In north Vietnam, there is a tradition to make rustic stone walls," Vo Trong Nghia told Dezeen. "I wanted to make the wall become a part of the beautiful landscape."

Built using dry stone, the wall curves gently around the edge of the building, shielding the interior from the road and protecting it from the noise of a restaurant across the street. "I wanted to design a quiet space for the new conference hall," said the architect.

New earth mounds rise up around the edges of the wall but a tunnel-like entrance leads inside, where a reception lobby directs visitors into the largest of two conference halls.

Once inside, the bamboo framework is revealed as a row of trusses that follow the curve of the facade to supporting the asymmetric roof above.

The architects deliberately specified locally sourced bamboo for the structure. "In southern Vietnam, we often use 'Tam Vong' bamboo, which is bendable and suitable to create a curving figure, but this is not very available in north Vietnam, so we used 'Luong' bamboo, which is more common," Nghia explained.

Describing the difficulties the architects encountered with this material, he added: "This bamboo has a big diameter and is difficult to bend. Our challenge was to create a pliable form by using this hard and straight bamboo. So the frames of the roof had to change their shape gradually."

Grey brick walls line the interior and while pendant lights hang down from the ceiling to sit level with the eaves.

The Dailai Conference Hall forms part of the Flamingo Dailai resort, a holiday retreat surrounded by woodland at the foot of the Tam Dao Mountain in northern Vietnam.

Vo Trong Nghia Architects frequently use bamboo for their buildings and recently came up with a concept for low-cost modular homes built using the material.

The architects also picked up two awards at the 2012 World Architecture Festival, where we interviewed Vo Trong Nghia about his plans to reduce the energy crisis in both residential and public buildings. See all our stories about Vo Trong Nghia Architects.

Photography is by Hiroyuki Oki.

Here's some more informataion from Vo Trong Nghia Architects:

Dailai Conference Hall

A residential resort, named Flamingo Dailai Resort, was planned and partly constructed for busy city citizens to enjoy their weekends surrounded by nature. It is located in the middle of flourishing forests between Dailai Lake and surrounding mountains, about 50 km away from Hanoi. The guests of this resort can enjoy the beautiful landscape inlayed with numerous natural objects, plants and flowers and escape from their daily life in cramped quarters.

The lot of Dailai Conference Hall is located beside the main access road, which is used as an entrance for the whole resort; the building welcomes all visitors when they come. To enhance their expectation for a delightful stay in the resort, an impressive curved stone wall along the road was designed as its “receptionist”. The wall, which is 80-meters long, 8-meters high and 1-meter thick, offers a sequential view to visitors, revealing and screening the surrounding nature from place to place. Furthermore, the curved wall works as a device, which raises the morale of visitors and attempts to lure them to events being performed in the hall. An orthogonal access between artificial hills conducts visitors through the stone wall, then, visitors reach a foyer covered by a dynamic bamboo structure with an extraordinary scale.

The wide-span structure of the conference hall consists of the composition of straight bamboos. Bamboo itself has many advantages, such as beautiful color, texture and reproduction potential. Many bamboos are assembled into a structural frame, which has higher reliability and redundancy than bamboo used individually. Its maximum span is 13.6 meters and the positions of the joints at each frame are adjusted to make a generous curve of the roof. Though the functional requirements as a conference center divide the space into specific rooms such as a main hall, sub hall, foyer and supporting rooms, the dynamic bamboo structure enables visitors to feel the spaces are wider and more open, showing its continuity through a transom window above the partitions.

Bamboo and stone are abundant natural resources near the area. The hall achieves its originality and special atmosphere by using these local materials in plenty. Consequently, the building becomes a friendly accompaniment to nature. The aim of this building is not only to supply a nice space for events but also to deepen the experience of the generous spirit of nature.

Architect Firm: Vo Trong Nghia Architects
Principal architects: Vo Trong Nghia, Takashi Niwa
Contractor: Hong Hac Dai Lai JSC + Wind and Water House JSC
Status: Built in 08. 2012
Program: Conference Hall
Location: Vinhphuc, Vietnam
GFA: 730m2
Client: Hong Hac Dai Lai JSC

Above: floor plan - click above for larger image

Above: cross section - click above for larger image

Above: front elevation - click above for larger image

Above: rear elevation - click above for larger image

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Vo Trong Nghia Architects appeared first on Dezeen.