Articles by Valentina Villa

Designed by 1100 Architect, Perry World House serves as the University of Pennsylvania’s new hub for global engagement. The new space allows affiliates from each of the university’s 12 schools to address international affairs in a cross-disciplinary way. To accommodate the organization’s diverse programs, the 17,400-square-foot building includes a range of spaces, including classrooms, meeting rooms, 14 offices, a 50-person conference room, and common areas, all designed to encourage interaction. At its core is the World Forum, a glass-enclosed atrium that serves as a dynamic multi-use event space capable of hosting seminars, lectures, and special events.

The Double Duplex infill project is located on Melbourne Avenue in Toronto’s Parkdale neighbourhood, notable for its century-old Victorian and Bay and Gable mansions. The existing double-wide site was severed into two separate properties with a four-storey, 3,500 square foot detached duplex residence constructed on each site, each with two two-storey units.

This residence’s occupancy program has been fragmented into four pavilions, according to an organic plan, freeing a central space that looks completely outward.  A little like the “heart of a village”, this space links the other building bodies, geometrically distinct from each other. 

This new four level house on a steep street in San Francisco’s Noe Valley neighborhood is designed to respond to opportunities presented by its site and situation, including: the morphology of neighboring infill urban fabric, and possibilities of a walkout rear yard and distant views in the downhill direction to the east and north. The house’s interior is organized around a central lightwell and stairwell. The lightwell is positioned in relation to an existing lightwell of the neighboring house, Situated at the heart of the house, the lightwell and stairwell act together to bring in natural light and views to the sky. They also become the spatial hinge between living/dining and kitchen/family on the main living level, and between kids’ and parents’ bedrooms on the upper sleeping level. 

Alison Brooks Architects has collaborated with The American Hardwood Export Council

Entirely clad in bricks, THE CLOUDS marks the completion of the surrounding ecodristrict, offering a reinterpretation of Paris courtyards that connects Rue des Cévennes with the park that lies in the centre of the district. The two architects imagined this walkway to favour gentle circulation on the lot, which was envisioned from the very beginning as a pedestrian oasis and a pioneer biodiversity program. The design of the project offering 109 apartments within the Boucicaut ZAC relies on two solutions to lessen the impact of the project’s high density:

Apartment is situated in a pre-revolutionary building in the centre of Moscow.