The P-K House is oriented north-south and located in a setting in southern Burgenland that has an agricultural character which it was wished to preserve.

P-K House, image courtesy Pichler & Traupmann Architekten | Photo by Lisa Rastl

P-K House, image courtesy Pichler & Traupmann Architekten | Photo by Lisa Rastl

The approach driveway from the road comes from the north-west and is incised into the terrain. It starts with an embankment on both sides and is then flanked by a retaining wall that, as a building element, rises continuously out of the ground and reaches storey height towards the entrance.

P-K House, image courtesy Pichler & Traupmann Architekten | Photo by Lisa Rastl

P-K House, image courtesy Pichler & Traupmann Architekten | Photo by Lisa Rastl

On the lower floor (entrance level) the volume of the building is almost completely embedded in the terrain and is revealed as a full storey only at the entrance area. Free-spanning roof slabs near the garage entrance are green roofs. A section of roof slab that is tilted slightly towards the west takes up the incline of the slope, develops a moderate differentiation of heights, and at the same time varies the ceiling height in the interior.

P-K House, image courtesy Pichler & Traupmann Architekten | Photo by Lisa Rastl

The upper living level with the private living areas is set completely free. Large areas of glazing, some of them extending the full height of the room, form largely transparent spaces that are bathed in daylight.

P-K House, image courtesy Pichler & Traupmann Architekten | Photo by Lisa Rastl

Generously dimensioned terraces connect to the outdoor space, which in the immediate surroundings of the house is designed as a garden.

P-K House - Basement floor plan, drawing courtesy Pichler & Traupmann Architekten

P-K House - Ground floor plan, drawing courtesy Pichler & Traupmann Architekten

+ Project credits / data

Project: P-K House
Year: 2008
Project Location: Punitz (AT)
Function: Dwelling house
Scope: Design and site supervision

Architect: Pichler & Traupmann Architekten ZT GmbH | http://www.pxt.at/
Project team: Barbara Aull (Project leader), Mario Gasser, Jürgen Schneeberger, Milan Suchánek

Start of Design: 2008
Completion: 2010
Usable Floor Area: 269.06 m²
Built Area: 279.92 m²
Models: pxt

Building Physics: rosenfelder & höfler consulting engineers GmbH & Co KEG, Graz
Structural Design: DI Harald Weiss, Pregarten
Building Services: DIE HAUSTECHNIKER, Jennersdorf
Landscape Planning: 3:0 Landschaftsarchitektur, Wien
Fotos: Lisa Rastl / Copyright by Pichler & Traupmann Architekten

+ All images and drawings courtesy Pichler & Traupmann Architekten | Photo by Lisa Rastl

Serge Schoemaker Architects (Amsterdam) and Miriam Haag architecture + consulting (Valencia) have designed an iconic highly sustainable center in the Southeast of the USA. ‘The Leaf‘ will be a 25,000 m2 large conference, exhibition and R&D center covered by one expressive membrane roof structure.

The Leaf, image courtesy Serge Schoemaker Architects

The placement of the leaf-shaped landmark creates a unique spatial setting, with views across the water and an entrance amongst the trees. The building has three wings which encompass the three main program elements: the conference center, exhibition area and R&D facilities. The central area of the building, surrounding the open air auditorium, is the welcome zone with sales, marketing and catering options. From here all sides of the building can be viewed and accessed.

The Leaf, image courtesy Serge Schoemaker Architects

The expressive laminated wood support structures at the ends of the three wings keep the membrane roof structure in place and the entire viewing area under the roof free. The extensive large translucent roof membrane will act both as shade device above the viewing decks and energy collector: flexible photovoltaic panels will be laminated to its extensive surface.

The Leaf, image courtesy Serge Schoemaker Architects

The environmentally sustainable Leaf building works with the site's natural features. The biggest savings will be made here by simple passive design strategies such as building orientation to maximize winter sunlight penetration and summer shading through eave overhangs. Rainwater runoff from the tensile surface structure will be collected and stored underground.

The Leaf - Level 0, drawing courtesy Serge Schoemaker Architects

The Leaf - Level 1, drawing courtesy Serge Schoemaker Architects

The Leaf - Level 2, drawing courtesy Serge Schoemaker Architects

The Leaf - Roof plan, drawing courtesy Serge Schoemaker Architects

+ Project credits / data

Project: The Leaf; Conference, Exhibition and R&D Center
Location: Southeast USA
Surface: 25,000 m2
Design: 2010-2011
Due for completion: 2015
Architects: Serge Schoemaker Architects & Miriam Haag architecture + consulting
Project Team: Serge Schoemaker, Anthony Dann, Dik Houben, Gerald Lindner, Ricardo Ploemen

+ about Serge Schoemaker

Born in Amsterdam in 1975 Archiprix International winner Serge Schoemaker studied architecture at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands and the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland.

He worked as project architect on several first prize-winning competition entries at the office of Regula Harder & Jürg Spreyermann in Zurich from 2000 to 2002; and subsequently as project architect of the highly praised Kolumba Art Museum in Cologne, Germany, at the practice of the renowned Swiss architect and Pritzker Prize winner Peter Zumthor from 2002 to 2007.

Since 2007 Serge Schoemaker has run his own architect’s office in Amsterdam and is visiting lecturer at several architecture schools. In 2010 his work was rewarded with a grant from the Netherlands Foundation of Visual Arts, Graphic Design and Architecture.

+ about Miriam Haag

Born in São Paulo in 1974 Miriam Haag studied architecture at the University of Manchester, Great Britain, and at the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology in Zurich and Lausanne, Switzerland.

She first worked from 2000 to 2005 as a site supervisor on several World Cup stadia in Germany for the international construction company Max Bögl. From 2006 to 2009, she worked as a project architect on the renowned City of the Arts and Sciences in Valencia, Spain, at the architectural and engineering office of Santiago Calatrava.

Since 2009 Miriam Haag has run her own architecture and consulting office in Valencia. In 2010 she graduated from her MBA at the top-ranking IE Business School in Madrid, Spain.

London- and Hong Kong-based experiential designers MET Studio have been commissioned to create the new War Horse: Fact & Fiction exhibition at London's National Army Museum in Chelsea. The exhibition is initially scheduled to run for a one-year period from Autumn 2011 and is aimed at a family audience. 'War Horse: Fact & Fiction' will tell the incredible real-life story of the use of horses in warfare right through British military history, tying in with both the original War Horse novel by Michael Morpurgo (who has given the exhibition his support) and the smash-hit and award-winning War Horse play taken from the book, currently running at the New London Theatre, Drury Lane. A War Horse film, taken from the novel and directed by Steven Spielberg, is also due for release in late 2011 in the US and early 2012 in the UK.

Render courtesy MET Studio

The exhibition will be a separate entity from the book, play and film, although inspired primarily by the book, it will focus on the fascinating facts that lie behind the fiction, keeping the main focus on the story's World War One setting, but additionally tracing the story of horses in war right back to medieval times. As the original novel was based on fact, but brought fact to life in a hugely memorable way, so we hope to animate this extraordinary history both artfully and evocatively.

MET Studio Associate Peter Karn

MET Studio was appointed to the job, which will be housed in a 480 sq m gallery (double the size of the normal temporary gallery) after a 5-way pitch against other UK consultancies, winning out because of the high level of their immersive and experiential approach to the project, which will include two experiential enclosures to build pace, using sights, sounds and smells to create atmosphere, before climaxing in sculptural horses in full charge against a 'fiery red dawn' backdrop.

For a family audience, it was important to strike the right balance between creating an entertaining and enjoyable experience and not underplaying the sometimes harrowing notes from history, including the incredible statistic that over eight million horses died in the course of World War One.

MET Studio Design Director Lloyd Hicks

Render courtesy MET Studio

The exhibition, beginning with a peaceful introductory area showing horses in their natural lush and tranquil environment, will go on to cover a historical timeline that takes visitors from medieval knights to the 'glory days' of the cavalry at Agincourt, the Crimea and the Boer War, before the horrors of World War One, where the old era and the modern age collided and where a war that began with cavalry charges ended with the dominance of the horses' replacement – the tank. It will also include artefacts from the Museum's own Collection, some of which have never been displayed before.

War Horse: Fact & Fiction is a major project for the Museum and required a high impact, interactive and accessible design that appealed to our family market. We feel that MET Studio's approach will help us to deliver our visitors a dramatic and immersive experience, whilst showcasing a huge variety of objects from the Museum's Collection.

National Army Museum Director Janice Murray

Render courtesy MET Studio

The journey of war horses, from their home environment through the processes of requisition and transportation to battle, death, remembrance and legacy will be highlighted, with the two experiential areas focusing on life below decks of a transport ship and the terrain of 'no man's land' in WWI, whose centrepiece will be a full size battle horse model made of wire and caught in barbed wire, now being created by Scottish artist Laura Antebi – echoing a key moment from both the book and the play.

Render courtesy MET Studio

Rather than using classic 'set design' or diorama approaches, MET Studio created a series of flowing graphic panels, which initially seem to be nothing more than a series of abstract shard-like forms to house information and interactives, but which are finally revealed from the perspective of the gallery visitor looking back on the space as a huge-scale charge of horses going into battle.

See MET Studio's stunning work from 22 October 2011 at the National Army Museum's War Horse: Fact & Fiction exhibition.

+ Website: http://www.nam.ac.uk/

Designed by MICHAEL LAU, the project is involved in totally paper design. The point of these designs is they are made of cardboard and Tyvek. Maybe the designs might not belong to the top tier. But the purpose of this idea is to use total sustainable paper-like materials to generate a real green and noble lifestyle. Total sustainable in following ways:

Cut the energy use and carbon emissions in production.

• Cut the waste of materials.
• Cut the cost in transportation. (They are light in weight).
• Cut the energy use when in the product is in occupied. (Use electricity as few as possible).
• Prolong the lifecycle of a product (Material Tyvek have great protection ability for each product).

+ Company: PPWORX
+ Designer: MICHAEL LAU
+ Website: http://www.ppworx.com

Courtesy PPWORX

Courtesy PPWORX

Courtesy PPWORX