Finnish

Ultra Ruin in Taiwan by Finnish architect Marco Casagrande

February 25, 2014

Ultra Ruin in Taiwan by Finnish architect Marco Casagrande

“Ultra-Ruin is a wooden architectural organism that is growing from the ruins of an abandoned red brick farmhouse in the meeting place of terraced farms and jungle. The weak architecture follows the principles of Open Form and is improvised on the site based on instincts reacting to the presence of jungle, ruin and local knowledge.”

For more photos of Ultra Ruin see Marco’s post here.

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Aalto’s Villa Mairea in Finland

June 20, 2009

Aalto’s Villa Mairea in Finland

Alvar Aalto’s Villa Mairea in Noormarkku, Finland, built between 1937 and 1939 as a rural retreat, is considered one of the greatest houses of the 20th century. Japanese architect Shigeru Ban, who curated a major retrospective of Aalto’s work at the Barbican in London in 2007, says photographs give no real sense of Aalto’s buildings.

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Chen House in Taiwan by Marco Casagrande/Frank Chen

May 20, 2009

Chen House in Taiwan by Marco Casagrande/Frank Chen

The Chen House in North Taiwan, design and constructed by Finnish architect Marco Casagrande and Taiwanese architect Frank Chen, was built for an older couple who wanted to retire to the country and grow bamboo and cherry trees – on a flood plain also beset by hurricanes and earthquakes.

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