Arch-Exist + 34 Design Director: Zhe Yang (Partner) Technical Director: Renzhen Chen (Partner) Design Team: Rui Yang, Qinmei Hu, Yaxian Zhao, Yuanjun Gou, Yuting Huang Client: Xuyong Town People's Government, Xuyong County Copywriting: Youcai Pan, Xiangxin Ge Materials Used: Straw paint, copper-aluminum composite panels, ultra-clear insulated glass, wood grain paint, small blue tiles (mixed), lava panels, micro-cement, spruce wood panels Construction Drawing Team: Chengdu Meixia Architectural Design Co., Ltd.
At first glance, the large buildings in Grentschel appear to be randomly scattered across the valley floor. However, the unassuming Grentschel stream actually plays an organizing role. Each building volume is oriented to the course of the stream and positioned parallel to it. The project adopts this logic, resulting in a relaxed ensemble with fluid outdoor spaces.
Serving as a multifunctional amenities building with café, dining, and gathering spaces, the suspended project inserts a striking horizontal volume into a terraced valley near the Danjiangkou Reservoir. Inspired by the accidental horizon created by a temporary blue construction fence on site, the architects translated this fleeting gesture into a permanent architectural intervention - one that stitches together the surrounding hills while redefining the relationship between landscape and built form.
Set on the outskirts of Bharuch, this weekend retreat grows out of the land as much as it rests upon it. The plot came with mature fruit-bearing trees like mango (Mangifera indica), chickoo (Manilkara zapota), and jamun (Syzygium cumini), whose presence defined the layout from the very beginning. Rather than clearing the site, the house was conceived as a curving form that gently weaves around the existing canopy, allowing architecture and landscape to remain in dialogue.
Ecuador-based studio Taller General completes a residential project, La Miradora, in the rural landscape of Machachi. The home is sited at 3,403 meters above sea level within the Páramo ecosystem, a tropical wetland of the Andes. Perched along the highest point of its elongated plot, the dwelling opens broadly outward to overlook a steep ravine, with the expansive and fragile landscape backdropped by meadows and volcanoes on the horizon.
Architecture usually frames the landscape around it, but what if it could actually become part of that landscape while letting you reshape both the space and your perspective? Michael Jantzen's Folding Landscape Pavilion concept explores exactly this idea, creating an interactive structure that blurs the line between building, artwork, and the natural world. The pavilion starts with a deceptively simple steel frame that holds ten photo-laminated panels, each one hinged and divided diagonally so they can fold and pivot in multiple directions.
