This week we reviewed 2020

This week on Dezeen, we continued our review of the year by looking back at the most interesting cabins, houses and graduate projects of 2020.

As part of our review of 2020, which we will be running throughout December, we also looked back at the top museums of the year, which included a minimalist structure by Álvaro Siza and a spiralling pavilion by BIG.

Homebuyers "moving away from open-plan spaces" says Albert Hill of The Modern House

In a live talk with Dezeen, The Modern House co-founder Albert Hill said that the coronavirus pandemic is moving people away from open-plan living as people seek greater privacy at home.

As the pandemic continues to impact people around the world, we also looked back over predictions made throughout the year made by everyone from Norman Foster to Li Edelkoort and Rem Koolhas on how coronavirus will impact cities and our lives.

Pantone selects two shades as its colours of the year for 2021

In design news, Pantone decided to unveil not one but two colours of the year for 2021. The American colour company named Ultimate Gray and an "optimistic" hue of yellow called Illuminating as its two shades for next year.

"Grey alone would be too depressing for 2021's colour of the year," wrote Michelle Ogundehin in an opinion piece for Dezeen.

Under Armour designs pilots' spacesuits for Virgin Galactic's first commercial spaceflight

Also in design news, US sportswear brand Under Armour revealed its design for the spacesuits that Virgin Galactic's pilots will wear for the company's first spaceflight later this month.

"A pilot's flight suit has been refined over the decades to embody a certain undeniable look and function, but they also have to perform beyond expectations," said Randall Harward from Under Armour.

"We took that as a starting point and built in all of the Under Armour solutions we've developed for comfort, support, movement and temperature management."

Álvaro Siza cloaks Chinese art museum with black corrugated metal

Two major cultural buildings in China caught readers' attention this week. The first was the Humao Museum of Art and Education that Álvaro Siza and Carlos Castanheira completed in Ningbo, which is covered in black corrugated cladding.

In stark contrast, Steven Chilton Architects completed a bright red theatre in Guangzhou, which has a shape informed by the city's connection to silk trading and is imprinted with golden phoenixes.

Natalie Dionne raises Forest House I on three-metre stilts for better light and views

Popular projects on Dezeen this week include a forest retreat in southeastern Quebec that is raised up on stilts, the renovation and extension of a beach cabin from 1938 in Washington State by Olson Kundig Architects principal Alan Maskin and a monastic space inside a 19th-century Antwerp building designed to be a "shelter for the mind".

This week on Dezeen is our regular roundup of the week's top news stories. Subscribe to our newsletters to be sure you don't miss anything.

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Architecture49 tops Le Littoral holiday home with off-centre volume

Canadian studio Architecture49 has completed Le Littoral, a holiday rental property in Charlevoix, Québec, which was informed by local architecture but has been given a contemporary feel with an off-centre upper level.

The house, which is set next to the Saint Lawrence River in Canada, was built from a skeleton of locally sourced, FSC-certified wood clad in eastern white cedar.

Top image: the lower level is clad in white cedar. Above: the house is topped by an off-centre volume

In order to minimise disruption to the landscape, Le Littoral was constructed high up, leaning on a slope that overlooks the river and La Malbaie Bay. Architecture49 decided against a basement as that would have required "extensive excavation".

The 220 metres-square building (2,400 square feet) features an off-centre volume on the second level wrapped in locally-sourced, pre-painted metal sheets, a material that is often used for roofing in both residential buildings and farm houses in the area.

Dining areas and kitchen are on the upper floor

This upper volume houses the kitchen, dining and living spaces under a gabled roof.

"From experience, when you have family gatherings, there's always one or two people who don't want to party and would rather go to bed," Architecture49 designer and project manager Viviane Zhang told Dezeen.

A roof terrace sits above the bedrooms

"There's nothing more annoying, when you are trying to rest, than to hear people or even a dishwasher running right on top of you," she added. "I wanted the bedrooms to be as quiet as possible and to have no functions above them was important in achieving this."

"As such, the kitchen, dinning and living spaces – effectively the entire upper volume – was shifted to the side to clear the bedrooms."

This move also helped to create a roof terrace on the upper floor.

The house's shape nods to local farm buildings

The shape of the building was informed by local farm buildings, which Zhang said are "simple and efficient".

"The sloped roofs are structurally very efficient," she said. "It sheds rain and snow well – and boy does it snow in Charlevoix! –  which is the main function of any building envelope."

"It also identifies with the region that is rich in terms of variety of farmers and producers."

Le Littoral has views of the river

Le Littoral drew on the shapes of these farm houses, but Zhang interpreted them in a more minimalist way.

"I thought about why someone would be there, what environment were they in and how would they use the space," Zhang said. "The answers gave way to the form."

A swimming pool overlooks the forest

The house was laid out in a precise axis to give residents a view of the river at the front and the forest at the back, and the general shape of its plan follows that of the land.

"Orientation of the rooms and their location was also considered to optimised heating and cooling," Zhang said.

"Bedrooms tend to require less light and need to be cooler, so were placed on the lower floor is an example."

A fireplace heats up the living room

Le Littoral, which was designed for a client who wanted to create a high-end holiday rental where families, friends, or colleagues could gather, also features a swimming pool, sauna, fireplace, and spa.

The house can sleep eight adults and five children.

Other Canadian nature retreats include the Forest House I, which is raised on three-metre-stilts, and the two-toned Chalet Lakeside east of Montréal.

Photography is by Stéphane Brügger.

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Project credits: 

Designer and project manager: Viviane Zhang
Architecture: Architecture49
Structural engineering: SBSA
Building Mechanics: Habitat Refrigeration
General Contractor: Habitat Ecoconstruction

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Ripamonti chair by Keiji Takeuchi for De Padova

Dezeen Showroom: Japanese designer Keiji Takeuchi has created the "unconventional and cosy" Ripamonti lounge chair for Italian furniture maker De Padova.

Ripamonti is available with either fabric or leather upholstery, which is stretched over polyurethane foam to give the chair its plump shape.

Ripamonti is available with fabric or leather upholstery

"Unconventional and cosy, the new chair by designer Takeuchi features rounded lines accented by double stitching that runs along the back," said De Padova.

"I really appreciate sofas and armchairs of the 1950s, 60s and 70s, when they were just voluminous and very warm and visually inviting," added Takeuchi. "Before you even sit on them, you know they're going to be forgiving and comfortable."

Ripamonti is available in either a swivel or fixed version, to accommodate a range of different settings.

Product: Ripamonti
Designer: Keiji Takeuchi
Brand: De Padova
Contact: info@depadova.it

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Sunset chair by Time & Style for Boffi De Padova

Dezeen Showroom: Sunset is a wood-frame and leather chair, created by Time & Style for furniture makers Boffi De Padova in homage to a 1960s seating design by Danish modernist Børge Mogensen.

The Sunset chair has a solid oak frame and a soft leather seat and backrest, which are wrapped around portions of the wood to create a seamless look.

Leather wraps the wooden frame

"This piece is inspired by the iconic Spanish Chair, created by Danish designer Børge Mogensen in 1959 with a wood frame and leather seat – a design object destined to become a classic," said Boffi De Padova. "The same could be said of the Sunset chair."

The design is available in either a grey charcoal-stained frame or a snow-white oak, while the leather is a vegetable-tanned cowhide that comes in camel and dark brown.

The oak can be stained either dark or "snow white"

"Each sheet of leather is processed in Toyooka's famous bag factory to achieve the perfect amount of elasticity for ideal comfort and to better express that feeling of calm, relaxation and home," Boffi De Padova said.

Product: Sunset
Designer: Time & Style
Brand: Boffi De Padova
Contact: info@depadova.it

About Dezeen Showroom: Dezeen Showroom offers an affordable space for brands to launch new products and showcase their designers and projects to Dezeen's huge global audience. For more details email showroom@dezeen.com.

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Edward Mazria wins AIA Gold Medal for 2021

American architect Edward Mazria has scooped the 2021 AIA Gold Medal prize in recognition of "his unwavering voice and leadership" in the architecture industry's fight against climate change.

The esteemed Gold Medal award, which is the AIA's highest annual honour, is given to architects in recognition of their contribution to the field.

The institute said Brooklyn-born Mazria was selected by the jury for his longstanding dedication to "motivating the profession to enact positive change and take immediate action".

Mazria is the architect behind the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture. Photo is by Robert Reck

"An amalgam of architect, researcher, advocate, and influencer, Mazria's impact on the AEC industry is profound, helping to plot a new course for practice in the 21st century," explained the AIA.

"As one of the world's foremost experts on the built environment's role in both causing and curing climate change, Mazria addresses the global threat as a design problem," it said.

"Facing countless challenges and a client base of 7.5 billion humans, his leadership and positioning of architects as a critical resource is creating a healthy, just, and carbon-positive future."

The Stockebrand Residence in Albuquerque is one of his best-known projects. Photo is by Richard Rush

Pratt Institute-educated Mazria, who is also an established author and educator, is best known for helping to establish the AIA's Committee on the Environment and founding the pro-bono organisation Architecture 2030 in 2002.

Architecture 2030's mission is to transform the built environment from a major polluter into a solution to the climate crisis. According to the AIA, it has "shaped some of the world's actions on climate change".

This is through initiatives like the 2030 Challenge, which invites architects to make all new buildings and renovations carbon-neutral by the year 2030, and speaking to world leaders at events including the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference to shed light on the industry's environmental impact.

Prior to founding Architecture 2030, Mazria authored The Passive Solar Energy Book following a period of working in a teaching position at the University of Oregon with a focus on passive solar-energy systems.

The book, which remains widely referenced to this day, informed the design of some of his best-known buildings that include the Stockebrand Residence, the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture, and Georgia O'Keefe's estate, Sol y Sombra, in New Mexico.

Sol y Sombra was built by Mazria for artist Georgia O'Keeffe. Photo is by Kirk Gettings

In a letter supporting Mazria's nomination, architect Marsha Maytum said his work had ignited "a global network focused on sustainable growth and urgent climate action".

"Ed has been a tireless advocate, a consummate communicator, a skilled designer of innovative tools, and most importantly, a master builder of powerful alliances across professions, industries, and governments," she said.

"Mazria's voice in the wilderness about architecture's potential to change the projected path of impending global climate change seemed a formidable if not unattainable goal in 2003," added Thompson Penney, the 2003 AIA president.

"In the ensuing decades, his unwavering voice and leadership have shown that it can be done and in fact is being done," he concluded.

Mazria is the 77th laureate of the prestigious AIA Gold Medal award. A number of well-known architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier, Louis I Kahn, IM Pei and Moshe Safdie have also been bestowed with the honour.

This year's recipient of the award was Arkansas architect and educator Marlon Blackwell. In 2019, it was given to Richard Rogers after James Polshek scooped the prize in 2018.

Paul Revere Williams became the first black architect to receive the medal in 2017, a year after it was given to husband-and-wife team Denise Scott Brown and the late Robert Venturi.

Main portrait image is by James Stillings. All imagery is courtesy of Mazria.

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