Matteo Thun

Matteo Thun was born in 1952 in bolzano/alto adige, he studied under oskar kokoschka at the salzburg academy. in 1975 he was awarded his ph.d. in architecture at the university of florence, italy. in collaboration with ettore sottsass he grounded the sottsass associati and the memphis design group in 1981. between 1983 and 1996 he was professor of design at the university of applied arts in vienna. in 1984 he inaugurated his own design studio in milan.
This environmentally friendly, sustainable, modular private house, call Heidis, makes you live in close contact with nature and it´s ready in a matter of weeks.

Matteo Thun Portrait (2006)

Interview for Euromaxx on DW-TV.

The Ring House, Japan by Ach. Makoto Takei and Chie Nabeshima (TNA)

TNA Architects designs a country retreat outside of Tokyo

When architects Makoto Takei and Chie Nabeshima (TNA) were asked to design a weekend house 185 miles from Tokyo, they came up with an ethereal, glass and wood mini-tower. Standing three storeys tall amid thick vegetation, it offers uninterrupted 360-degree views, its transparent skin flooded with light during the day and glowing at night when lit from within.

They have designed a striking mini-tower on spec for a planned community in the town of Karuizawa, some 185 miles northwest of the Japanese capital. The Ring House is wrapped in rings of glass and wood and has an uninterrupted 360-degree view of the forest. In an area that was dark, on uneven land and with no neightbours this plot of land was originally unmarkable. But TNA Architects were undeterred by the conditions and set about designing the house. TNA designed rings around the facade so that areas of private space and utilities could be met. The height of each ring was decided by the function concealed behind it. The glass between the rings allow you to look straight into the forest, so the whole house appears to dissolve into the forest. Built on Owners' Hill, a resort in the Karuizawa forest near Tokyo, Ring House occupies one of the hundred or so plots set aside for city dwellers to build weekend retreats.