Designed by Coop Himmelb(l)au, the Visual and Performing Arts High School in Los Angeles is part of phase II of LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District)’s plan to build 155 new schools built in its district by 2012. The school is expected to open for the new school year in September 2009 and will accommodate about 1,800 students, organized into four academies. This campus sited on a 9.8 acre area on Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles and comprised of seven buildings: four classroom buildings, a library, a cafeteria and a professional performing arts theatre.
Located on the California high desert, the iT House is designed by a pair of Los Angeles-based architects, Linda Taalman and Alan Koch. It’s built on 1,100 square foot area and comes with open section concept so it can be whatever one wants it to be.
The Off-grid iT house is the result of the couple’s latest experiment in mixing prefabricated and on-site construction techniques. The aluminum framing, steel roof, cabinets, and 3-form bathroom walls arrived ready to install, while the concrete foundation and electrical and plumbing systems were fabricated to meet site-specific needs.
The guest house for a Buddhism expert has been built in Brentwood, California. The design was made by François Perrin of Air Architecture with the concept of self-sufficient in energy by utilizing photovoltaic panels and wind turbines. The reports said that the similar structures will be build in Taiwan and Sri Lanka.
The project is using an “air” insulation, which is a void in between the wood frame and the translucent skin that protects the interior (the anthropologist’s collection) from the cold and the heat. The project is also using cross ventilation from the specific position of the opening and the operable skylight on the roof to cool down the building in extreme summer heat, catching the ocean’s breeze in the afternoon through the operable skylight.
