Bio-Architecture

This one is fun
It is The Seashell House and it is located in Mexico City, Mexico.

*Many have wondered what life would be like living in a sea shell and that was the exact inspiration behind the beautifully crafted Nautilus.

This giant seashell house is located in Mexico City, and was built and designed by Arquitectura Organica’s own Javier Senosiain.

The home was built back in 2006, and features a smooth front facade met with a giant wall of colored mosaics, lighting up the living space in a stunning rainbow effect. Inspired by the works of Gaudi and Frank Lloyd Wright (as can be seen by the natural plantings and spiral staircases located throughout the dwelling) the structure houses a young family that includes two children.

Whether you think it looks like a giant snail or seashell,the home is definitely quite strange, but it was actually designed to blend in with the natural surroundings in what Senosiain likes to call “Bio-Architecture.”

5 Remarkable Buildings That Use Trees as a Design Element

Innovative Design

5 Remarkable Buildings That Use Trees as a Design Element

From Singapore to Switzerland, firms have introduced more greenery to provide shade, improve air quality, and reduce reliance on air-conditioning

 This was a year in which tree-inspired architecture sprouted throughout a few cities in Southeast Asia, along with one magnificent project in Europe. From Singapore to Switzerland, several firms have covered their future buildings with trees and shrubs. The arboreal aesthetic is inspired by a number of practical building considerations: In efforts to minimize the effects of greenhouse gases from new buildings, architects have incorporated more greenery to supply shade, boost air quality, and lessen their buildings’ need for air-conditioning. AF surveys five beautiful, tree-centric buildings that are changing the way we look at modern architecture. Pictured here is Vo Trong Nghia Architects’ vision for a treelined campus at FPT University in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Courtesy of Vo Trong Nghia Architects

The 2015 winning design for the Urban Habitat Award by Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat was the ParkRoyal on Pickering, a hotel in Singapore created by WOHA.

Photo: Courtesy of WOHA

Building of the Year 2015

A tower with a photovoltaic facade is Building of the Year: With 20 percent of the votes, Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture's (AS+GG) FKI Tower in Seoul, South Korea, has won the Building of the Year 2015 on American-Architects.

FKI TOWER bested the other projects featured as Building of the Week last year, in which the theme focused on buildings overseas designed by US architects and the inverse: buildings in North America designed by foreign architects. Chicago's AS+GG designed the 50-story, 240-meter tower for Seoul's Yeoido District, which mandated that new large-scale commercial buildings generate at least 5% of their energy onsite. In response, the architects covered the glass tower in a high-performance envelope with a "rippled" profile that provides sunshade and is integrated with photovoltaic (PV) panels. It is an ingenious solution to the mandate and a valuable precedent for building sustainable towers, and we're glad our readers rewarded the design with their votes.

Known for the 1-kilometer-tall Jeddah Tower under construction in Saudi Arabia, AS+GG has been at the forefront of designing energy-efficient, sustainable tall buildings since its founding in 2006. In addition to the curtain wall with PV panels (selectively located on the tower's four sides according to exposure and other factors), FKI Tower incorporates a number of planted atrium terraces that serve the office workers and a podium at the base with public amenities. The rippled facade, atria and podium add up to an architectural icon for Seoul.

Runner UP

Second Place (16% of votes): JW Marriott Hotel in Hanoi, Vietnam, by Carlos Zapata StudioAdd caption

Tied for Third Place (11% of votes): MUZEIKO – America for Bulgaria Children’s Museum in Sofia, Bulgaria, by Lee H. Skolnick Architecture and Design Partnership
 

Tied for Third Place (11% of votes): Vitra in São Paulo, Brazil, by Studio Libeskind

Color Edge

When color creates borders - at Burano, near Venice.