Marko Simcic Architect is a small Vancouver-based practice. This project is a retreat for a couple who live in Victoria, BC. The program consists of an open kitchen, dining and living rooms, a study, and bedrooms. This building occupies the top of a sharp ridge, high above and inland from the surrounding ocean.
The building opens up to the north and south for light and view, while closing to the east and west for shade and privacy. The roof extends a large overhang to shade and protect against rain, wind, and summer sun.
Concrete slabs on grade, clad with black slate, provide passive solar thermal mass to augment the in-slab hydronic radiant heating.
Above Images from Marko Simcic Architect’s website.
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Arrived at my doorstep today! 12 Volumes! Yes, those are the books that Taschen compiled for the past 80 years of Domus Magazine with CDs (The CD is super useful for quick search)! You can call this your architecture “Library” instead!
Kumiko Inui from Tokyo lectured at Robson Square on Jan 28, 2010. She introduced herself and presented some of her office work to the public. Most of the projects are designed with her attitude towards life : happiness. Either small scale or large scale, the human emotion reaction is the key goal in her design.
like always, autograph is a must! 
Today I drop by the newly built WOODWARDS COMPLEY at west cordova street. And quickly walked through “the Vancouverism” Exhibition in the atrium. Really disappointing! I have to say, the exhibition should change its name from “Vancouverism” to “Commericialism”! Is that really what represents Vancouver Architecture? Or is there really a Vancouver Architecture?
Some Photos I took using my IPHONE.
Malaysia supplies 50 percent of the world’s palm oil, a raw material in high demand for the food processing and chemical industries. In this country, palm trees flourish on nearly eight percent of the land. Their fruit is roughly the size of a plum and grows in umbels. It is harvested every two months for the production of oil. In addition to the stripped fruit stalks, palm leaves and parts of the tree trunk make up the large quantities of waste left behind in the oil production process. Yet these materials are too valuable a resource to merely throw away or burn. Scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Wood Research, Wilhelm Klauditz Institute, WKI, have been cooperating with the Malaysian Palm Oil Board to investigate ways of using this vast volume of fibrous waste. The conclusion: the fibers have been found to be highly suitable for the manufacture of fiberboard for the construction and furniture industries.
“The first experimental investigations quickly showed that the various residual materials have the right attributes for being processed to make medium-density fiberboard – MDF,” reports engineer Volker Thole of the WKI. The residual materials are crushed and then pulped into fibrous material in a thermomechanical process. Steam heats the fibers and then the soft raw material is ground in a refiner. Finally, adhesive is added and the material is hot-pressed to achieve the desired density and final solid form of the fiberboard.
Blaine Brownell—TRANSMATERIALhttp://transstudio.com