ION Architecture - NEWS

Excitement is building for the upcoming 2018 Winter Olympics and some of that excitement is for an actual building. Hosted in Pyeongchang, South Korea , the ceremonies kicking off on February 9th will include the unveiling of a colorless building, designed by the British architect, Asif Khan .  To achieve this effect, Khan will be using spray-on version of Vantablack —a super black material first developed by Surrey NanoSystems. Considered the darkest man-made substance in the world, Vantablack absorbs 99.96% of light, causing the human eye to see nothing. According to CNN , the buildings will have four curved walls, coated in Vantablack and studded with thousands of tiny lights. Envisioned as a "schism in space," the super dark treatment will cause the building, from a distance, to look like a slit of blackness. As one approaches the building, the "star field will grow to fill your entire field of view, and then you'll enter as though you're being absorbed i...

The gleaming low white villa was set into the rocks behind it, as though it belonged there, and guests who glanced out of the windows or stepped onto the private balcony of their bedroom would get the impression that it was almost hanging over the blue sea. The swimming pool, considered the best on the Riviera, was housed in a basin blasted out of the rocks and featured a water-chute so that bathers could slide down into the sea below and swim to a raft tethered just offshore. Back in October, the Book Review published a trio of reviews, for three newly published house histories. The three homes, well known at least in their time, all belonged to the famous, wealthy or both. First, Sadie Stein reviews Mary S. Lovell's, ritzy Riviera history of the Château de l’Horizon. Next, Judith Martin looks at the history of Ca’ Nonfinito , an 18th-century Venetian building, which Judith Mackrellexplores through the lives of three " notoriously eccentric women " (Marchesa Luisa ...

You should ask several questions before working with an interior designer for the first time. Image: Toronto Interior Design Group | Yanic Simard Working with an interior designer is a positive — and dare we say game-changing — experience for many. However, if you haven’t done it before, the idea of hiring someone to undertake this task can feel intimidating. That is, if you don’t know what to expect from the process. With that in mind, we’ve created a first-timer’s guide to hiring an interior designer . If you think you’re ready to take the plunge, please continue. We’ve outlined what you need to know to determine if going the professionally designed route is right for you. Set your expectations realistically. Image: Toronto Interior Design Group | Yanic Simard Have realistic expectations Most designers will tell you that, as much as we all love to watch home design shows, their prevalence has done them a bit of a disservice. Thanks to TV magic, the designers on th...

When we think about Modernist architecture, we tend to think about stripped-down details, refined façades and quirky old men in round-shaped glasses. We don’t, however, always think about one of the most lasting contributions of Modernism: a desire to blur the boundaries between inside and out. It’s a nice idea, but it’s a tricky thing to pull off in practice. Unless you’re building in the perfect Mediterranean climate where it’s 72 degrees virtually year-round, you eventually need to have a hard barrier to separate living spaces from the landscape. Historically, that has led to a lot of glass walls, which may be beautifully transparent but are still hard, impregnable walls. The Series 7600 Multi-Slide Door seamlessly blends into minimal, modern designs. The dream solution for a lot of designers is to have glass walls that can open and close depending on the weather and the season. Ideally, this sliding wall should be easily operable and minimally detailed so that whether open o...

Find the perfect HVAC products for your next project through Architizer’s community marketplace for building-products. Click here to see if you qualify. It’s free for architects. Heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems, or HVAC, are as vital to a building as lungs are to a human being. These systems employ complex networks of air handlers, compressors, cooling towers and other equipment to make sure that the air inside of a building is clean, conditioned and comfortable. But running all of that equipment consumes a lot of energy. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, these processes account for 48% of energy use in homes and 40% to 60% of energy use in commercial buildings. If not run efficiently, these systems can quickly drain wallets, devour natural resources and dirty the atmosphere. The good news is that the HVAC industry has come a long way since the days of shoveling coal into furnaces to keep the house warm. Recent breakthroughs in renewable energy and s...