These dramatic unbuilt concepts, one a neo-brutalist condo development in Calgary and the other an ascetic residence New Orleans, won two 2018 AZ Awards of Merit for their originality.
Project: GROW Location: Calgary, Canada Firm: Modern Office of Design + Architecture (MoDA), Canada
Slated for delivery in the spring of 2019, neo-brutalist GROW is a four-storey, 20-unit condo development to be located in Calgary’s Bankview neighbourhood. Channelling earlier brutalist masters, the architects at MoDA have specified a wood-frame structure and untreated-cedar-plank envelope for the building. Once it’s built, these materials will masquerade as monumental concrete formwork and – as the ribbed cedar cladding weathers – a waffle-slab facade. The extensive landscaping planned (including green walls along the communal outdoor walkways and urban-agriculture plots for each unit) is also a latter-day embodiment of Moshe Safdie’s motto regarding medium density: “For everyone, a garden.”
Team: Dustin Couzens, Ben Klumper and Nicholas Tam with Hilmer Collado, John Ferguson, Paul Mowat, Kevin Vig, Danny Wolsey and developer Alkarim Devani
Project: Magazine Street Residence Location: New Orleans, USA Firm: Trahan Architects, USA
When it’s finished, this ascetic residence – imagined by Trahan Architects for an ultra-challenging site in New Orleans – should exemplify the theory that the greatest designs often emerge from the tightest constraints. Currently under construction, the 515-square-metre, one-bedroom townhouse is intensely private, set back from its property lines in both the front and the rear. Even so, it features a full-height and -length, 244-ton Corten sculpture wall that sets the monumental tenor for the house’s other elements. These include triple-height ceilings, skylights that bathe the second-floor living space in natural light and a matching custom dining-room table.
Team: Trey Trahan, Conner Bryan, Shelby Downs and Brad McWhirter with Adrian Fehrmann, John Hand, Tim Huth, Michael Ludvik, Ricardo Pittella, Doug Reed, Stanton Stafford and Zach Zanolli
