Saving space: Big ideas for small buildings Over the years, talented
architects have occasionally indulged themselves with the challenge of
designing small but perfectly formed buildings. Today, with reduced
budgets, many architects have turned in a more focused way to creating
works that may be in diminutive in their dimensions, but which are
definitely big when it comes to trendsetting ideas. Whether in Japanese
cities, where large sites are hard to come by, or at the frontier
between art and architecture, small buildings present many advantages,
and push their designers to do more with less. A dollhouse for Calvin
Klein in New York, a playhouse for children in Trondheim, pop-up stores
for fashion stars, vacation cabins, or housing for victims of natural
disasters are all part of the new rush to develop the great small
architecture of the moment. The 2013 Pritzker Prize winner Toyo Ito is
here, but so are emergent architects from Portugal, Chile, England, and
New Zealand. Alvaro Siza and Kazuyo Sejima (SANAA) display their eye for
tiny detail alongside artists Doug Aitken and Olafur Eliasson. From
world-famous names to the freshest new talent, come discover
architectural invention on a whole new, small scale.
