Modern Treehouse is 1 of 5 Finalists For House Of The Year.

Rockefeller Partners Associates' stunning Mandeville Canyon Treehouse is presently up, along with four other modern homes, for Arch Daily's Building of The Year . Voting ends today, and all the nominees are shown here later in this post.



The Treehouse home, on Banyon Drive in Los Angeles, is perched upon steel pylons that are naturally integrated into the surrounding trees. With a butterfly roof, the 16 square meter home is perched upon an eastern facing ridge, giving it a wonderful view of downtown Los Angeles.








The interior floors and walls are made of walnut wood and the exterior is high grade cedar. Designed for a nature loving artist, it serves as both as a studio and as guest accommodations. The tree house is completely self-sufficient with a water closet, fireplace, refrigerator, daybed, and television. Outside, a quick walk down the stairs leads to a protected and private outdoor shower.

Rockefeller Partners Associates (RPA)
all photos are courtesy of Eric Staudenmaier for RPA


The Other Four Nominees
Also nominated for Arch Daily's Building Of The Year are some of my other favorites:


the Hemeroscopium house


The Casa Y House by Sousa Santos Architects


The House Of Ruins by NRJA


The Villa Vals Underground home (which I'd actually written a huge post on but then it appeared on so many sites and blogs, I refrained from publishing it)

The voting has now closed. The winner was:

read about the House of Ruins project here.

Gimme Shelter: Guggenheim & Google's Virtual Design Competition

On the occasion of Frank Lloyd Wright’s birthday, June 8, the Guggenheim Museum and Google launched Design It: Shelter Competition, a global, online initiative that invites the public to use Google Earth and Google SketchUp to create and submit designs for virtual 3-D shelters for a location of their choice anywhere on Earth.


above: Ironwood, designed by Chad Cornette, 2000. Taliesin West, Scottsdale, Arizona. Model courtesy the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture

The competition takes its inspiration from Learning By Doing, an exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum’s Sackler Center for Arts Education, which features plans, photographs, and models of shelters built by students at the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture (like those shown below).


above: Victor Sidy Shelter, 1999. Taliesin West, Scottsdale, Arizona. Photo: Victor Sidy


above: more shelter design examples created by students from the FLW School of Architecture

So..to celebrate the ideas and teaching of Frank Lloyd Wright, the Museum has invited you to create your own virtual shelters, located anywhere on Earth.

Then you can share your design on the Guggenheim’s Web site by first modeling your shelter with Google SketchUp, then placing your model on Google Earth.

Go ahead, give it a try! Here's a tip: When designing your shelter, consider Frank Lloyd Wright’s interest in the connection between architecture and its location. How can your shelter respond to the specific natural and built environments that surround it?

Project Specs
Location: You can build your shelter anywhere on Earth: from city to desert, hill to valley. You cannot remove any existing buildings, but you can add on to existing structures.
Size: Keep your shelter small—it can be no larger than 100 square feet (9.3 square meters), and no taller than 12 feet (3.6 meters).
Amenitites: Your shelter must offer protection from the elements and provide a space for one person to study and sleep. Keep it simple—no water, gas or electricity allowed.

Recent Submissions:

Baobab Tree Shelter:

And its proposed location on earth (image from google earth):

The above submission is from Madrid, Spain and was designed by Angel Delgado. Shelter location: Madagascar, Date submitted: June 11, 2009

Greenegg Shelter:

And its proposed location on earth (image from google earth):

The above submission was designed by Jevgenijs Busins from Riga, Finland. Shelter location: India Date submitted: June 9, 2009

Prizes:
People's prize:
Trip for two to New York City (includes airfare and hotel accommodations for two nights)
Behind-the-scenes tour of the Guggenheim Museum and the Google Offices
Free admission to other NYC museums
Google SketchUp Pro license (USD$495 value)

Juried prize:
$1000 cash prize
Trip for two to New York City (includes airfare and hotel accommodations for two nights)
Behind-the-scenes tour of the Guggenheim Museum and the Google Offices
Free admission to other NYC museums
Google SketchUp Pro license (USD$495 value)

Note: In the event that the same shelter design is chosen by those voting for the People’s Prize and by the experts determining the winner of the Juried Prize, the People’s Prize will be awarded to the entrant who receives the second highest number of votes for the People’s Prize.

How to Enter - To participate in the contest, follow these steps:

• Download Google SketchUp and Google Earth for free. Both are available for both Windows and Macintosh computers.
• Use Google SketchUp to design a shelter for a particular location on the planet. Give your model a precise geographic location with Google Earth. (View the SketchUp tutorial page for instructions.)
• Upload your geographically-located SketchUp shelter to the Google 3D Warehouse.
• Export at least one (and as many as four) views of your model as JPEG images and upload them when you're submitting your entry. (JPEGs should be at least 235 pixels wide but no larger than 720 pixels wide.)
• Export an animation of your shelter as a video and upload it to YouTube. (The animation is optional. Keep in mind, though, that in Google Earth, viewers will only be able to see the outside of the shelter—an animation is a great way to present a more detailed view of your design.)
• Write a description (in English) of your shelter and how it integrates into the location where you placed it (limited to 70 words).
• Fill out the submission form on the Guggenheim Web site.
  

For more detailed instructions on how to prepare and submit your shelter, please download the submission guide (PDF).

The Polish Pavilion Building Design For Shanghai's 2010 Expo

Above: First prize in the competition for concept architectural design of the Polish Pavilion for EXPO 2010 in Shanghai


The victorious design entry for the Polish Pavilion in Shanghai's 2010 Expo is an unusual building resembling a giant paper cut out. To learn more about the contest, the jurors and the rewards, please go here.


Designed by a team of architects which is made up of Wojciech Kakowski, Natalia Paszkowska, and Marcin Mostafa, they describe the winning design as such:

Due to the nature of the exhibition the object must also aesthetically characterise its country of origin, forming a recognisable and stylistically strong cultural landmark. In our basic proposition the essential theme for cultural communication is that of the folklore cut-out. The subject will be presented in a contemporary architectural design. The design will fulfill two goals. Firstly we hope to avoid literal traditionalism and the mechanical repetition of canonical forms. The design of the object is intended to link with tradition, but also to be contemporary, a stylised reinterpretation, creatively connecting to today and inspired by the past, yet not followed it rigidly.

Secondly, a major concern is that the pavilion is a self contained structure, in a purely architectural sense: a calling card of Polish architectural achievement. It must be an attraction and an object which is distinguishable externally, among the backdrop of the other EXPO buildings in daytime – also being lit up outside – at night, it must also make a strong impression internally, by an interwoven design so that the sunlight forms space beneath vaulted arches. The shape of the mass, with many acute surfaces, on one hand fulfills and suggests a folded cut-out card, while on the other hand creates a geometrically interesting interior, which is also an elastic space, that can be creatively divided into interior sections, divided into functional areas for expositions, concerts and domestic needs.

Above: the design team


Above: the totally cool entry ticket, designed in keeping with the look of the pavilion.


Above: Two of the three members of the design team with their winning entry.



Above: the pavilion as it would appear lit at night

To see more sketches, elevations and learn more about the design process, go here. Congratulations guys! It's beautiful. I can't wait to see it in person.You can congratulate them too. Right here.