Extreme weather and conditions call for contextual architectural approaches. From sandy deserts to cold, icy climates, how we build is intimately tied to location. Drawing from diverse project sites around the world, architects and designers create proposals that construct and organize new ways to live, work and play. These unbuilt projects rethink traditional forms while addressing a wide range of landscape conditions.
This week’s curated selection of the Best Unbuilt Architecture focuses on diverse typologies in hot and cold climates around the world. Drawn from an array of firms and local contexts, they represent proposals submitted by the ArchDaily Community. They explore everything from generative design through a desert shelter in Siwa and a cave dwelling in China to a coastal development in Spain and a series of igloo habitats for penguins in Antarctica.
.jpg?1612411982 "Courtesy of Sajjad Navidi")
Read on to discover 10 curated projects highlighting hot and cold weather design, along with their project descriptions from the architects.
The Forum
Too many of today's iconic structures fail to engage the local community in their daily lives. Instead most are novel follies designed to only attract the tourist hordes. In place of fees and lines, the Forum is designed to be free and easily accessible to all. Rather than a narrow narrative, the forum is an open platform where all voices and opinions are welcomed and heard. Just like the forums of old, this new forum is a celebration of citizenship and democracy, more than an icon but a place where people of the new global community meet, share ideas and take away treasured memories.
Siwa Oasis
The proposal hopes to introduce generative design technologies as an alternative to the development and construction of new communities’ techniques in the desert, especially that the STD technique has Proven to be the main factor of influence in predicting the sand behavior throughout the design, the assessment, and execution of the project, despite of its usually-high initial costs and its need for the experience and specialization. It lives up to be an environmental and futuristic sustainable alternative.
Farm
Modern Office of Design + Architecture
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The building is comprised of several Quonset huts ganged together, providing an inherent spatial flexibility whereby a tenant can occupy one, several or all of the bays. The modular approach to construction enabled by Quonset hut technology allows each bay of the building to recede at points of public interface, and tear apart in unexpected instances, producing secret gardens and courtyards that not only provide spectacle but also allow daylight to penetrate into the building’s interiors, providing an ethereal light that accentuates the building’s barrel vaulted form from within.
Horizon
Alice Gier + Alexis Soriano + Adolfo Romo
The project is meant to help socially isolated people taking care of abandoned dogs. The residential building hosts a civic center and a dog shelter. A great roof unites the civic center and the leaving, creating a visible tension with the horizontal line. Both programs are separated by a patio that can be used in multiple ways. This building is meant to united the people, making a pause in the middle of the infinite trajectory of the horizontal line.
Iconic Mosque
The proposed mosque is conceived as a Jannah where one finds shade and peace for reflection. The main spaces are largely subterranean, accessible by sunken courtyards amongst the orchard filled with palms, oranges, vines and irrigated with waterways. An arabesque-patterned urban canopy stretches across the entire site to shade the garden mosque beneath.
Chuanzihe Village Renovation
By mixing the modern furniture and reuse abandoned cave dwelling, the design team renovate an old village into a modern hotel. Chuanzihe Cave Dwellings is located at Shanxi Province, in between two large historic cities: Xi'an & Yan'an. The site used to be a village and now is abandoned. The site is surrounded by different tourists attractions, such as Huangdi Mausoleum, Fudi Lake, and National Park. The beautiful landscape and natural resource are the significant characters of the site. These also makes this region as the ideal vacation spot.
Azekat Al-amal
The design aims to deal with the urban and architectural context as a dynamic presence capable of adapting to the modern lifestyle without sacrificing ‘Almedina’ ’s identity and uniqueness. In the scheme, the design considers the social structure and the place spirit, keeps the city’s continuity, and encourages youth to move between the youth house and the city’s surrounding context. The design’s inspiration came from the inhabitants’ creative interaction through ‘Azekat Almedina’ by creating multiple human activities. The design program is woven out around generated alleys ‘Azeka’ with the adjacent urban fabric axis.
La Térmica
Located on the edge of the city in a rapidly changing neighbourhood marked by its industrial past, the still visible traces of which, in the form of elegant chimneys, punctuate Malaga’s beach, the site offers undeniable advantages in regard to its inscription in a dynamic which will transform it into a new hub: the proximity of the sea, the airport, and a major natural space, as well as a direct link to the downtown area via an expressway. But what image should be given to the site, a future bridge between the city and the sea?
Swan Pavilion
Pavilion on the shore of a small private pond. The site already has a main home for living, but the client needs a place for privacy and peace. A minimalistic pavilion for meditation and yoga. The architecture is inspired by place and oriental philosophy, a kind of temple of body and mind. Get away from the outside world into the inside. Clear your mind.
Penguin Habitat
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.jpg?1612411852 "Courtesy of Sajjad Navidi")
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The penguins generation is on the verge of extinction due to climate change. The presence of ice is vital for the penguins to live and lay eggs. "penguins protection system" consists of: 1. IGLOO (Inspired by penguins huddle) Emperor penguins breed during the cold Antarctic winter where temperatures can reach -30C and below. To conserve energy and protect themselves from the cold, they adopt a behavioral strategy of huddling close together in large groups. 2. Porous space (inspired by sea sponges) under which the pendulum structure moves by sea waves and provides the electricity needed to operate the cooling system. This system is independent in nature and, when needed, smartly separates and moves towards them by identifying melting ice areas.
HOW TO SUBMIT AN UNBUILT PROJECT
We highly appreciate the input from our readers and are always happy to see more projects designed by them. If you have an Unbuilt project to submit, click here and follow the guidelines. Our curators will review your submission and get back to you in case it is selected for a feature.
.jpg?1612411969 "Penguin Igloos in Antarctica and a Garden Mosque in Dubai: 10 Unbuilt Projects Submitted to ArchDaily")
