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    Modul 28 transforms fortified church in Transylvania into guesthouse

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    Romanian studio Modul 28 has updated and extended the rectory of a church in Transylvania, transforming it into a guesthouse that “balances preservation with innovation”.

    Located in the village of Curciu, the building was renovated as part of an initiative led by the Fortified Churches Foundation, which exists to preserve the region’s large number of fortified churches dating from the 13th to 16th centuries.
    The converted chapel and rectory contains a guesthouseRather than turn these sites into museums, the programme looks to introduce “contemporary functions” that will reintegrate them with the surrounding communities, Modul 28 said.
    At this site in Curciu, the studio has converted the adjacent rectory and chapel into a guesthouse, while the large church at the centre of the site remains open to the public.
    The main living area is housed within the old chapel’s apse”The initiative is based on the belief that turning heritage buildings into museums does not serve their long-term wellbeing, especially in the case of secondary importance constructions such as annexes,” said architect Andra Nicoleanu.

    “The design process for this project could be characterised by a meticulous approach that balances preservation with innovation, drawing inspiration from the historical and architectural context of the site,” she told Dezeen.
    Doorways and window shutters have been updated with pale woodA series of minimal and reversible alterations were made to the existing rectory, creating space for a double bedroom alongside a kitchen and dining area.
    Projecting out of the site’s boundary wall, the polygonal apse of the former chapel now houses the main living area. Three gothic windows surrounding this space, which had been partially destroyed, have been restored with thin-profile metal frames.

    Medprostor tops 12th-century church in Slovenia with folding roof

    The old rectory has been replastered and its doorways and window shutters have been updated with pale wood, contrasting the rough masonry exterior of the chapel and the gatehouse.
    “Our proposal, especially for exterior interventions, emphasises reversibility and the temporary nature by utilising lightweight materials, namely wood and metal inserts,” explains Nicoleanu.
    “Essentially, this approach serves as an exercise in contemporary materiality, contributing to the contrast between what already exists and what is currently being constructed,” she added.
    A temporary timber structure sits beside the guesthouseA temporary, pavilion-like timber structure tucked between the guesthouse and the site’s external wall provides bathrooms, with a shower lined with yellow corrugated metal.
    “The most significant gesture in the design was perhaps the decision to add a temporary construction to the exterior, that arises from the desire not to alter the volume of the interior spaces,” said Nicoleanu. “Although it fits contextually, in terms of plan resolution and resulting image, it stands out through contrast.”
    A shower is lined with yellow corrugated metalAnother recent project involving renovations of historic church buildings include the repair of a 12th-century structure in Slovenia by local practice Medprostor, designed as a space “between a ruin and a reconstruction”.
    In London, Tigg + Coll Architects converted an abandoned mission church into its own workspace and, on the Isle of Sheppey, Hugh Broughton Architects transformed a 19th-century church into a community hub.
    The photography is by Vlad Pătru.

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      Twelve forest houses in deep woodland from Dezeen's Pinterest

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      Over the last two weeks searches for “forest house” have doubled on Pinterest, so we’ve rounded up twelve woodland architecture projects. Follow Dezeen on Pinterest!

      These popular forest homes – including cabins, hotels and private houses – are located in secluded areas, surrounded by woodland and incorporating large windows to maximise the proximity to nature.
      A stone-clad home in Belgium, built around a pond, stood out due to having its own underground parking area so that not even parked cars can disrupt the views of its natural environment.
      Scroll down to see twelve popular projects pinned on Dezeen’s Pinterest and browse our popular woodland architecture board to see more.

      Trakt Forest Hotel, Sweden, by Wingårdhs

      Locally-grown wood was used by Swedish architecture studio Wingårdhs to create five suites for the Trakt Forest Hotel.
      The cabins are accessed via long ramps and large windows provide residents with elevated views of the forest.
      To preserve the surrounding environment, the studio raised the cabins on metal stilts.
      Find out more about Trakt Forest Hotel ›

      Looking Glass Lodge, England, by Michael Kendrick Architects
      Timber covers this forest house, a holiday let in East Sussex designed by Michael Kendrick Architects. Made without felling any existing trees, the home sits on a sloping site.
      Located within the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the studio was tasked with creating a lodge that is eco-friendly and respects its surroundings.
      Find out more about the Looking Glass Lodge ›

      Hitherhouse, Canada, by Ménard Dworkind
      Architecture studio Ménard Dworkind designed a holiday home with a matching sauna on a forested hillside in Quebec, Canada.
      The studio used white cedar to clad the exterior and red pine planks, that have been oiled white, for the interior. Polished concrete covers the floors of the home.
      Ménard Dworkind created shutters that slide open to allow light in and enable views of the surrounding Mont-Tremblant valley.
      Find out more about Hitherhouse ›

      Minimod Curucaca, Brazil, by MAPA
      Minimod Curucaca, designed by Brazil and Uruguay-based firm MAPA, can be found in a forest clearing in the Curaca Valley, located in a mountainous region of Southern Brazil.
      Blackened wood and a grassy roof were incorporated by the studio to seamlessly blend the project with its environment. Elevated on stilts, timber boards were used on the floors, walls and ceiling of the interior.
      Find out more about Minimod Curucaca ›

      House Bras, Belgium, by DDM Architectuur
      Muschelkalk stone clads this forest house in woodland close to Antwerp, designed by DDM Architecture.
      Overlooking a pond, the home has its own underground parking area that can be accessed via a concrete ramp.
      Find out more about House Bras ›

      Apus House, Chile, by Aguilo + Pedraza Arquitectos
      Glass, concrete and wooden-log cladding were used by Aguilo + Pedraza Arquitectos to design this elevated house in Chile.
      Surrounded by oak trees, a lake and five volcanoes, the home (above and main image) is raised on concrete stilts to provide views of the Chilean landscape.
      Find out more about Apus House ›

      Indigo, Netherlands, by Woonpioniers
      Indigo is a modular dwelling made from a prefabricated laminated-timber structure for clients who wanted a sustainable but affordable home.
      The fourth of its kind, Indigo is tailored to each individual and can be duplicated at any location.
      Find out more about Indigo ›

      Dans l’Escarpement, Canada, by YH2
      Weathered steel wraps the exterior of this vacation home located in a concealed woodland area in Canada.
      To fit its landscape, the studio chose mahogany for the interiors of the forest house. It added full-height windows to provide panoramic views.
      Find out more about Dans l’Escarpement ›

      Little House, USA, by MW Works
      Little House is a small cabin located in a Washington forest made from weathered cedar and blackened cement. Seattle-based studio MW Works aimed to design a home that was easy to construct and efficient.
      The bottom floor of the two-floor residence contains a mudroom, a kitchen and an open-plan living and dining area. Upstairs, the studio added two bedrooms and a shared bathroom.
      Find out more about the Little House ›

      Rural Montana cabin, USA, by Andersson-Wise
      Six steel columns carry this single-storey cabin by Texas firm Andersson-Wise. Due to it being designed without a heating or cooling system, it can only be used temporarily and at certain times of the year.
      The cabin’s cladding and structure are made entirely of wood.
      Find out more about the Montana cabin ›

      The Corbett Residence, USA, by In Situ Studio
      The Corbett Residence is constructed of glass and darkened wood. Located along a country road, designers In Situ Studio split the home into three sections.
      The interior features concrete flooring and wooden cabinetry.
      Find out more about The Corbett Residence ›

      The RoadRunner Residence, USA, by North Arrow Studio
      North Arrow Studio took cues from Mies van der Rohe’s Farnsworth House when designing this glazed forest house in Texas.
      Raised on stilts, the one-storey home features glass walls to open up the interiors to the surroundings.
      Find out more about The RoadRunner Residence ›
      Follow Dezeen on Pinterest
      Pinterest is one of Dezeen’s fastest-growing social media networks with over 1.4 million followers and more than ten million monthly views. Follow our Pinterest to see the latest architecture, interiors and design projects – there are more than four hundred boards to browser and pin from.
      Currently, our most popular boards are offices and concrete.

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      Norman Foster creates angular retreat in Martha's Vineyard for “friends of the Foster family”

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      Pritzker Architecture Prize-winning architect Norman Foster has designed the Foster Retreat in Martha’s Vineyard as a holiday home for his friends and those of the Norman Foster Foundation, which features furniture designed by the architect for Karimoku.

      Named the Foster Retreat, the mono-pitch roofed building in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, was built opposite Foster’s US home.
      The building draws on traditional wood structuresThe home was formed from a series of angled steel beams that are connected by timber beams with smooth timber louvres enclosing an outdoor patio space.
      According to Foster, the holiday home’s shape was informed by North American barn structures, with large amounts of timber chosen to reference Martha’s Vineyard’s traditional wood-boarded structures and its sustainability credentials.
      Pale wood was used inside Foster Retreat”The retreat takes inspiration from the generous wooden barn structures of North America and combines that tradition of timber construction with a small amount of steel in the form of skinny portal frames which touch the ground lightly,” said Foster, who is the founder of UK studio Foster + Partners.

      “Wood was the obvious choice not only for reasons of sustainability but also as a direct reference to the traditional buildings that characterise the island.”
      The building has a visible gridThe site levels around Foster Retreat, which will be used as a private residence for friends of Foster’s family and of the Norman Foster Foundation, were contoured to hide the building from the roadside and situate it within the landscape.
      The studio also added indigenous plants to the site, as well as a bank of solar panels that together with “a high level of insulation and shading” helps the building be more sustainable, according to Foster.
      Norman Foster designed the NF Collection for KarimokuInside the building, the holiday home has white walls with pale wood panels and wooden floors.
      To match the pared-back material palette of the house’s exterior and interior, Foster designed a wooden furniture collection named NF Collection together with Japanese furniture brand Karimoku.

      Foster + Partners creates geodesic dog kennel as “architecture in miniature”

      The collection comprises a dining chair, two stools, a lounge chair, a sofa, and a dining table, all of which feature pale “skeletal” timber frames and padded upholstery.
      “The wood-based furniture I designed for Karimoku is an extension of the philosophy behind the building,” Foster explained.
      “lt has always seemed to me that there is a commonality between the American Shaker Movement and traditional Japanese furniture. Given my own admiration for the qualities of historic Japanese architecture, there are evident cultural links.”
      The furniture has skeletal frames and white padding. Photo is by Chuck ChoiThe collection was developed as Foster had trouble finding suitable furniture for the space.
      “When we started to think about what type of furniture could best fit in the spaces created in the Foster Retreat, Martha’s Vineyard, we realised that there was no single specific collection in existence that could be used for the different uses of the building, so I decided to develop a bespoke family of furniture,” Foster explained.
      “Timber was a natural choice to match the spirit of the building.”
      Foster Retreat was designed as a private residenceFoster Retreat is Karimoku’s seventh case study project, which sees the studio work together with architects on bespoke furniture collections.
      “I see the collaboration with NF as an important step for us as a brand – not only do we venture into a new area with the case at Martha’s Vineyard, but we also show how the brand can accomodate a more diverse furniture collection, showcasing the unique design languages of the individual studios, yet still maintaining a red thread throughout the collection in the use of materials, excellent craftsmanship and high quality,” Karimoku creative director Frederik Werner told Dezeen.
      The collection marks Karimoku’s seventh case study. Photo is by Chuck ChoiThe NF Collection will also be shown in an exhibition at Karimoku Commons in Tokyo, the brand’s retail and showroom space. Karimoku was one of a number of Japanese brands that showed at this year’s Salone del Mobile furniture fair as the focus on the European market grows.
      One of the world’s best-known architects, Foster leads the UK’s largest studio Foster + Partners. The studio’s recent projects include 425 Park Avenue, which is the “first full-block office building” to be built on Park Avenue in over 50 years, and the tallest building in the EU, the Varso Tower in Warsaw.
      The photography is by Marc Fairstein unless stated otherwise. All photography courtesy of the Norman Foster Foundation.
      The Norman Foster x Karimoku exhibition is at Karimoku Commons from 21 October to 9 December. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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      Archipelago House by Norm Architects is a minimal family getaway in Sweden

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      Norm Architects has completed Archipelago House, a pine-clad holiday home on the coast of Sweden that’s designed to embody both Scandinavian and Japanese aesthetics.Copenhagen-based practice Norm Architects created Archipelago House, which is located just north of Gothenburg, for a couple and their four children.
      It’s a stone’s throw away from a holiday home that the mother of the family frequented when she was younger.

      Top image: the interior of Archipelago House. Above: the exterior of the home is lined with pine wood

      Archipelago House comprises a quartet of pine-wood volumes that stagger in line with the site’s rocky terrain.
      Each of the volumes features gabled roofs, subtly mimicking the form of the boathouses which appear along the nearby seashore.

      The kitchen features oakwood cabinetry
      “We like to consider the spirit of a place and integrate a new building structure more or less flawlessly into its surroundings,”  partner at Norm Architects Frederik Werner told Dezeen.
      “The building should look natural to the site and put the focus on the beautiful surroundings and the life unfolding in the place rather than the building itself,” he continued.
      “It is important for us that architecture does not feel alien to a site – especially in a place like this where there is a perfectly harmonised small village on the shore with other wooden houses around.”

      At the heart of the floor plan is a double-height lounge
      Inside, the practice has used natural materials to devise a sequence of muted, pared-back living spaces that nod to traditional Scandinavian and Japanese aesthetics.
      Handleless oak cupboards feature in the home’s kitchen, at the centre of which is a jet-black breakfast island with in-built drawers. Stone tiles have then been used to line surfaces in the bathrooms, which have been finished with dark-wood vanity cabinets.

      Furnishings in the lounge were designed by Norm Architects and Karimoku Case Study
      The influence of Japanese design can be observed most clearly in the home’s double-height lounge, which is dressed with furniture that Norm Architects has produced in collaboration with Karimoku Case Study – the sister brand of Japanese manufacturer Karimoku.
      This includes a pebble-grey sofa, stone-topped coffee table and pair of armchairs that boast arching backrests upholstered in creamy fabric.
      Archipelago House is the third project that the brand has worked on since its launch in 2019, joining the Kinuta Terrace apartment block in Tokyo and the Blue Bottle Coffee cafe in Yokohama.

      Japanese lanterns appear throughout the holiday home
      The home’s living area also has a delicate cone-shaped lantern that was created bespoke for the project by Kojima Shouten, a Japanese brand that has been making lanterns for over 230 years.
      Crafted from washi paper, the lantern’s peaked form is meant to act as another reference to the architectural form of Archipelago House.

      Johan Sundberg builds Swedish holiday home that takes cues from Japanese architecture

      More squat lanterns that balance on four-legged stands appear in the home’s tranquil sleeping quarters. Here there are also book-like storage boxes that Norm Architects designed alongside Danish brand August Sandgren, where inhabitants can tuck away their personal trinkets.

      Book-style storage boxes hide the inhabitant’s belongings
      Beyond the home’s dining room lies an expansive outdoor deck where the family can play games or enjoy alfresco dinners with views of the adjacent sea and small, rugged islands.
      “Nature plays an important role in our soft minimalist approach, where we believe that buildings should be a functional backdrop and structure for human engagement,” added Werner.
      “It might be a romantic relationship with nature – but after all, that is why we want to escape the city once in a while and reconnect with nature in our holiday homes.”

      The home includes an outdoor deck
      Norm Architects was established in 2008 by Kasper Rønn Von Lotzbeck and Jonas Bjerre-Poulsen.
      The practice’s Archipelago House joins a number of getaway homes in scenic Sweden – others include Summerhouse Solviken by Johan Sundberg Arkitektur, which is raised up on steel stilts, and Villa Vassdal by Studio Holmberg, which boasts minimal plywood interiors.
      Photography is courtesy of Jonas Bjerre-Poulsen of Norm Architects.

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      Atelier L2 creates modular wooden interiors for Ateliers des Capucins

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      Rennes studio Atelier L2 has installed 20 wooden boxes as modular units for shops, exhibitions and hospitality businesses inside Ateliers des Capucins, a covered square in a 19th-century arsenal in Brest, France.The Ateliers des Capucins has been shortlisted for a Dezeen Awards 2020 in the large workspace interior category.
      The studio’s brief was to design a number of shells in order to create an interior street with two floors inside the historical arsenal building, covering 5,000 square metres.

      Top: the project is located inside the 10,000 square-metres former arsenal. Above: Units with gabled roofs are slotted into the ceiling
      Atelier L2 used laminated veneer lumber (LVL) for the shells, which were designed to stand out against the metal structure and pitched glass roof of the 10,000 square-metres Ateliers des Capucins.

      Each wooden shell measures between 150 and 400 square metres, with some of the concept stores in the space using more than one.

      Some facades are as tall as 13 metres
      “In this way, the client would be able to find buyers who could convert each ‘box’ to complete the cultural and service offer,” Atelier L2 co-founder Pierre Lelièvre told Dezeen.
      The boxes are a permanent fixture of the Ateliers des Capucins – which functions as a large, covered market space – and can’t be moved.
      “Even though their appearance suggests it, the ‘boxes’ are absolutely fixed and cannot be moved under any circumstances,” Lelièvre said.
      “Their technical and structural complexity does not allow such flexibility. They are indeed equipped with all the necessary networks to host any kind of activity: exhibitions, restaurants, offices, breweries, co-working.”

      Laminated veneer lumber was used for the facades and floors
      The studio chose to use LVL made of spruce veneers for the structure of the facades and the floors, which span 10 to 14 metres, as it allowed them to create the units with as little impact on the existing building as possible.

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      “The entire design of the project was thought out with respect for natural resources,” Lelièvre explained.
      “The facing of the facades is made of spruce, the internal bracing uses gypsum boards and the insulation is made of wood wool. The floor boxes are ballasted with aggregates.”

      The wood stands out against the 19th-century building
      Windows were inserted into the facades of the wooden shells, to make them resemble many smaller houses inside the bigger building.
      The ceiling height of the huge hall space means some of the boxes have facades that reach as high as 13 metres, and gabled roofs that have been slotted into the ceiling.

      The units are used for retail spaces, offices and more
      “The use of wood was a way for us to stand out against the existing building, which is entirely made of stone and metal, while also giving an ephemeral side to our layout,” Lelièvre said.
      “We wanted to give the feeling that our project was simply set down in this historical and remarkable setting.”
      Atelier L2 is based in Rennes and was founded by Julie de Legge and Pierre Lelièvre.
      Also on the shortlist for the large workspace interior category are the monochrome interiors for KCC Office in a former factory, and The Audo hotel in Copenhagen that doubles as a showroom.

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