https://www.architecturalrecord.com/rss/2671 en-us A prolific husband-and-wife team builds projects that are not as straightforward as they seem.

]]> http://www.architecturalrecord.com/articles/13128 Fri, 01 Dec 2017 08:00:00 -0500 https://www.architecturalrecord.com/articles/13128-design-vanguard-2017-stpmj-architecture Invisible Barn Described by stpmj as an architectural folly, the 72-square-foot Invisible Barn was built at the Sagehen Creek Field Station, a research and teaching facility of UC Berkeley. The mirror-finished structure loses its architectural presence in nature by reflecting the trees around it. Openings, however, allow visitors to experience the space by moving through it. Photo © Stpmj The Masonry This house for two families plays with scale in dual ways—in the building itself, and in the masonry units used to construct it. The juxtaposition of bricks with concrete blocks creates a singular facade while making two units of program discernible in one mass. Photo © Song Yousub Stratum House Seeking to simulate a geologic formation, the striations on the facades of this 10,000-square-foot house were created by changing the water–cement ratio, aggregates, and pigments in each layer of concrete, poured on different days. Photo © Song Yousub Shear House Responding to sun orientation, this small house, just under 1,000 square feet, has two different ends within a monolithic structure—a typical gable on the west, and a sliced and shifted east elevation that produces a deep eave and a terrace. Photo © Song Yousub Dissolving Arch This seemingly simple temporary installation of a brick archway took on new meaning over time. The redbrick-colored rock-salt units that comprise it eroded in the humid climate of Jeju Island in summer, leaving just the mortar skeleton at the end. Photo © stpmj