LES, a project by Berlin-based studio RHO, is a versatile event location situated on an industrial campus in North Berlin. This 400-square-meter space is a dynamic environment that easily transforms from a campus canteen during the day to a corporate event location in the evening, meeting the varied needs of guests and the campus community. The design of LES is inspired by its industrial surroundings and combines functionality with contemporary materials and forms. The inclusion of a fully equipped kitchen on the underground level is a key aspect of the concept, with its design elements subtly reflecting the aesthetics of food production.

Located not far from Garosu-gil, “Triplet Code, Sinsa” is positioned directly facing a small neighborhood park with greenery at the very end of Serosu-gil. The site faces the park, has an elementary school right next to it, and is surrounded by neighborhood shops that extend from Garosu-gil, gradually activating even the back alleys. According to Clarence Perry’s Neighborhood Unit theory, the three core elements that promote physical convenience and pleasant living for residents — an elementary school, neighborhood shops, and a small park — are all present in the vicinity, so at first glance, it might seem that the conditions for residents are perfectly met. However, the recent excessive expansion of nearby commercial facilities is likely making the residential environment feel far from comfortable for existing residents. In fact, as Garosu-gil became more trendy and commercialized, gentrification reaching this area had already been anticipated for some time.

This increasingly complex project emerged from an interactive process and key breakthroughs by both the government and architects — through ongoing coordination and integration, architects drive the joint renewal of urban and educational spaces. It represents a process of architects’ proactive intervention and comprehensive resolution of urban architectural renewal needs. The project site features a narrow and elongated shape, with Kunshan Experimental Primary School to the east, adjacent to Kunshan Industrial Technology Research Institute to the west. And it connects two major urban green spaces, Dayu Lake Park and Kunshan Forest Park, at its north and south ends.

Beyond the village, along a road leading deeper into the majestic Bohemian Forest, stands a late 19th-century cottage. We propose a renovation that emphasises the joy of living in a house that has survived throughout and despite changing times. A house that is considerate of its surroundings rather than a loud neighbour.

The architecture design for Center Rog adds to the cultural revitalization of the city by rehabilitating a building that is listed due to its great heritage and historical value, in an urban location on the river embankment that needed a new lease of life and a makeover for use by citizens. 

Upon taking on the project and construction of the Village House, we encountered a building formed by the joining of two semi-detached houses, “regularized” by a superficial intervention that did not address the essential issues of the space. The initial diagnosis revealed a fragmented configuration, with compartments lacking a clear purpose, underutilized areas, and a staircase adapted to reach the upper floor, highlighting the lack of continuity between the parts. There were overlapping uses, unclear passages, and timid natural light that entered, unable to structure daily life. Our starting point was to restore logic and meaning to the whole, transforming two disconnected halves into a single organism.

The brickworks, that is run today by the Brickworks Museum, is the only intact surviving handmade brickworks in German-speaking Switzerland. The listed ensemble consists of a timber brick-drying shed, a kiln, that may no longer be operated, the biotope of the historical clay pit, a residential building with gardens, and a museum building that replaces a burned-down barn. In 2017 students of the guest professorship at the TU Munich worked on the task of designing a new kiln tower on the site. The prestressed earth-and-timber structure is based directly on the mock-up carried out at the Sitterwerk and is the world’s first prestressed earth building.

This building was designed as a home for a couple and their two children. The site is located on a quiet residential corner surrounded by an apartment complex and a golf course, with three sides facing roads except for the south. Currently, the area is a mix of vacant lots and houses, but it will gradually be filled with houses. The camping caravan on the vacant lot evokes the image of a family who enjoys nature and camping. I envisioned a house that would embody such a warm and joyful family life.

Laoyuting Pavilion is one of the invited projects of the 2024 Dianchi Art Season: “Home and Future”. It is located on the southern side of the Water-Forest Art Zone in the Laoyu River Wetland Park at Dianchi Lake. After its completion, it first served as the entrance to the Dianchi Art Festival, and after the festival, the pavilion was permanently preserved as a spatial hint for entering the wetland park, as well as a resting place for visitors. This wetland, filled with groves of bald cypress along the edge of Dianchi Lake, is in fact part of the city’s water-purification infrastructure—the final stage of natural filtration before water enters the lake. It is home to many small fish, and city dwellers often come here during leisure time to catch fish, hence the name Laoyu River Wetland. As a pavilion where people rest while fishing, it naturally came to be known as the Laoyuting Pavilion.

Few programmes offer such strong and evocative poetic substance as a lighthouse. The lighthouse is a place and an object that inspires reverie, the imagination of distant places, but also of return, of a landmark, a symbol of safety after stormy voyages. The lighthouse is the very embodiment of what it carries, of why it exists: to carry and bring light.