Articles by Javier Gaete

The assignment was to create an Integral Yoga and Spa Center in an area of 418 irregular square meters, located in Colonia Carretas, two blocks from the historic Arcos, in the city of Querétaro.

Nowhere but Sajima provides a temporary ‘home’ for its guests. The weekly rental service provided by Nowhere Resort is a relatively new method of operating resort properties in Japan and allows different tenants the opportunity to inhabit a ‘home’ on a weekly basis. While the weekly term is short compared to a standard monthly rental and long compared to a hotel stay, this in-between length accommodates a new diversity of uses of a ‘home’. Serving as a space for exhibitions, as a classroom or for wedding parties, the unit easily adapts to the imagination and invention of the tenant and in doing so also re-defines the range of activities that can take place in the ‘home’. As well as accommodating the functions of work and business, the ‘home’ again becomes the space of many life events besides the basic function of ‘inhabitance’. In acquiring a new program for use, the ‘home’ regains the richness of activity that can take place all around of life.

With a stream running through the house, this retreat in Alibag is delicately woven into the landscape, alternately opening up and closing itself to the different characteristics of the site. A multitude of medicinal and fruit-bearing trees provide for an intimate ambiance and comfortable microclimate. Though seasonal, the streambed allows for an interesting landscape feature throughout the year. The house is placed on the banks of the stream where it makes a sudden S-curve. A short walk along the stream before entering the house builds up an element of anticipation. Like an organism trying to make the most use of its resources and surroundings, the house with its several limbs reaches out into the landscape making full use of the views within the site and dramatizes special moments: a beautiful tree, a view of the mountains beyond or the cascading stream during the monsoon rains. What started out as a Cartesian response to the site became deformed, stretched and pushed in.

The house is designed for a middle aged newsman who has been working in years for Vietnam architectural magazines. The site is located at the outskirt of a new city in being urbanism with a variety of housing architecture styles in its surrounding. Therefore, both the architect and client came up with the idea that the new house should be looked green, but not compromise to its comfortable and specially should not much differentiated to next-door neighbours.

This house is located in a 1,316 m2 sloping plot of land in the district of Pedrezuela, 45 km north of Madrid. There is little to no vegetation in the section closest to the street, which nevertheless provides a good viewpoint on the surrounding lush natural landscape. The building is made up of seven wooden-structure modules symmetrically identical surrounding a central court. Each module is dedicated to a different domestic situation, according to its functional needs. The modular structure, as well as the scale of the rooms allows the alteration of this functional logic, serving as a support for possible future layouts.

This small site measuring 36.95 sqm is located in a downtown residential area.

The project is located within a residential area to the south west of Mexico City: Colonia Las Aguilas. The typology of the site is characterized by eclectic buildings which together generate an image of houses grouped heterogeneously. The site is an irregular rectangle with two fronts and a slope greater than 40%.

In the summer of 2012 the recently rejuvenated courtyard of Averbode Abbey has opened its doors inviting everyone to enjoy its centuries-old architecture and Baroque church standing at its heart. These impressive buildings are literally reflected in the grand water mirror calmly sitting at the centre of the square. The large film of water, which is only a few centimetres deep, not only provides an alternative view of the surrounding buildings, but also welcomes the visitor to rest beside it on a nearby bench and enjoy its tranquil character or even walk in it during those rare hot Belgian days. Averbode Abbey’s historical role is thus recreated in its own courtyard by bringing together people of all ages from around the region.

In the summer of 2012 the recently rejuvenated courtyard of Averbode Abbey has opened its doors inviting everyone to enjoy its centuries-old architecture and Baroque church standing at its heart. These impressive buildings are literally reflected in the grand water mirror calmly sitting at the centre of the square. The large film of water, which is only a few centimetres deep, not only provides an alternative view of the surrounding buildings, but also welcomes the visitor to rest beside it on a nearby bench and enjoy its tranquil character or even walk in it during those rare hot Belgian days. Averbode Abbey’s historical role is thus recreated in its own courtyard by bringing together people of all ages from around the region.