Designed by Denton Corker Marshall, the headquarters of the Ministry of Justice in the North West of England. The building, as described by the architects, is the biggest court complex to be built in the UK since the Royal Courts of Justice (opened in 1882). It houses 47 courtrooms and 75 consultation rooms, in addition to office and support space over 15 levels. Sustainability has been a major consideration for the architects from initial concept with natural ventilation to all areas contributing to its BREEAM rating of ‘Excellent’.

The working courts and offices are expressed as long rectilinear forms, articulated at each floor level, and projecting at each end of the building as a varied composition of solid and void. Viewed in side elevation, these elements collectively establish a dynamic and distinctive building profile; in end elevation, they form a powerful sculptural interplay of light and shade, depth and complexity. The architectural implication is that the courts are not forbidding or concealed, but open and accessible.

Photographs by Tim Griffith

Located in the Swiss Alpine village of Lumino, just north of Bellinzona, this house stands as a monolithic element, designed to quietly complement and echo its context.

The surrounding area is characterised by traditional stone built houses, many of which date back centuries and are marked by their use of this single construction material.

The new house is intended as a relevant response to and contemporary interpretation of the vernacular; its exposed fair face concrete construction recalls the revered strength and resonates the presence of these old stone houses. Sitting on the edge of the old village, the house acts as a sort of bastion between the old core and the modern residential expansion.

Photographs by Enrico Cano

The house’s owner, Ruth Hiller, a fine arts painter and corrective exercise specialist, purchased a 1950's single storey home located in Winter Park, Colorado.

All photographs courtesy of Bill Timmerman

Ruth, a single woman, approached Michael P. Johnson with the challenge to remodel this poorly designed building in a manner within a minimalist design ethic.

Adelaide Wharf is a mixed tenure housing scheme comprising 147 new homes and 650 sq m of workspace. Located on the Regent’s Canal in Hackney, a key regeneration area of London.

The developper has created sustainable, adaptable homes set within a safe environment with communal facilities for all residents. The scheme is the first to be delivered as part of English Partnerships’ London-Wide Initiative (LWI) with a mix of privately sold and socially rented apartments.

There is no visible differentiation between tenures and all of the homes are built and managed to the same high specification. Adelaide Wharf combines sophisticated urban intervention, emerging efficient construction technologies and the latest thinking in residential development.

Manassas Park, Virginia, is a small, independent city surrounded by the affluent northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C. Incorporated in 1975, the city cobbled together a series of pre-manufactured mobile buildings to create its first generation of school facilities from scratch.

Ten years ago, the city began rebuilding all of its public schools—an enormous challenge in a city with an extremely low tax base.

The new Manassas Park Elementary School and Pre-Kindergarten (MPES) are the fourth and fifth new schools, and they join the earlier Cougar Elementary School to complete the city's elementary campus.

The campus sits tightly surrounded by tract housing, private forest, and the historic landmark Camp Carondelet—forested winter quarters of the Confederacy's Louisiana Brigade between the first and second Manassas campaigns.

The project is part of our series featuring the AIA's 2010 COTE Top Ten Green Projects.

This home was designed to replace a seasonal residence originally built in 1958. The new construction 2000 SF, 3 bedroom, 2 bath home features a roof deck, outdoor kitchen, green roof, and sustainable materials. The Energy Star-rated home also received a LEED for Homes GOLD certification from the US Green Building Council.

The scope required the replacement the original building with one that reflected the client’s modern sensibilities, embodied the client’s environmental philosophy, and provided modern-day amenities for the client’s planned retirement and full time relocation to the property. The following design solutions were developed:

The home’s exterior is composed of three forms delineated by both geometry and material. The first floor consists of the Red box, which features the kitchen, living room, breakfast nook, and the Orange Box, which features the first floor bedrooms and full bath. The second floor Cedar Box houses the master suite and study. The relationship between the orange and red forms allows for a front entry that leads directly to the lake front deck. This well traveled path is delineated in stone for additional durability while the rest of the living spaces feature bamboo flooring. The site’s autumnal color palette inspired the vibrant red and orange façade colors while the Cape Cod location influenced the ship-lapped cedar siding.

One of winners AIA's 2010 Housing Awards, this California house seems crafted with a special attention to details as the different material cleverly interact, enriching the visual impact of the well proportioned volumes.


As detailed by the Architects, the house scales an uphill lot, with views to the west. Concrete walls run parallel along the side lot lines, forming the sidewalls of the house and continuing beyond to contain a protected garden. Sloping roof planes hover above, and are contained between the longitudinal concrete walls.

Photographs:
© Ethan Kaplan Photography
© Joe Fletcher Photography