some haystacks don't even have any needle

389. Robert Venturi & Denise Scott Brown /// Peter Brant House /// Greenwich, Connecticut, USA /// 1972

ARK Shelter

Michiel De Backer, Jakub Senkowski, and Martin Mikovčák are international architectural entrepreneurs who put together their heads to rethink the way people live their fast and stressful lives. That’s how ARK was born. A cocoon without TV, a silent place to appreciate nature we lost touch with and a cozy house to find yourself. ARK offers it all with a luxurious touch of life.

The philosophy behind ARK is providing a place to live in the wild, back to basics. With the sides folding open, ARK takes in the landscape and becomes an extension of nature. Its panoramic view and low impact makes it more than ever possible to enjoy camping without giving up luxury.

With its zero impact, ARK leaves the surrounding nature untouched. Its minimalist design doesn’t have ambition to stand out, but wants to merge into the landscape. Your own ark, subtle hidden in the landscape because of its mobile foundations, can be placed everywhere you can imagine. By collecting rainwater and using wind power for electricity production ARK becomes a self-supporting house. This ecological shelter is sustainable and totally independent with respect for surrounding nature, and that’s what makes ARK so unique.

Stills from a British film about a boy with wooden teeth who fell in love with a boat while contemplating his lunch options near the harbor

Casa 1302 in Barcelona

From the architects H Arquitectes:

The current construction is a dwelling that was maintained in an acceptable state of its constructive and structural elements, but needed an intervention regarding the new necessities of the clients. A main body in the ground floor plan and the first floor composes the house. Secondarily, some auxiliary constructions were added, with less spatial and constructive quality. In the main body, the party walls act as the bearing walls and the floors are made out of wooden ceiling beans and terracotta tiles. The ceiling on the ground floor slightly deflects in the points where it is free of interior partitions. The roof was not in a bad condition, although, as well as the rest of the construction, needed some improvements including its thermic behaviour. The intervention proposed to demolish the auxiliary bodies and empty the main body leaving only the structure that would be repaired, always maintaining its textures and material qualities, taking part of the new identity of the dwelling. 

368. Myron Goldfinger /// A Luxury Liner (House on Long Island) /// Sands Point, North Shore, Long Island, New York, USA /// 1981