Takaharu Tezuka was born in the year 1964, in Tokyo, graduated from the Musashi Institute of Technology in 1987 and got his master’s degree in architecture at the University of Pennsylvania in 1990. He was part of the Richard Rogers Partnership Ltd team for four years and from 2006 teaches at the Musashi Institute of Technology, at the Salzburg Academy (2005) and at the University of California, Berkeley (2006). He became a professor in 2009 and in the same year teh Musashi Institute of Technology changed its name as Tokyo City Universiity. Yui Tezuka was born in 1969 in Kanagawa. She graduated the Musashi Institute of Technology in 1992 and then studied at the Bartlett School of Architecture in London. She taught at the Salzburg Summer Academy as well and at the University of California in Berkeley. Husband and wife, they founded the Takaharu + Yui Tezuka Architects in 1994. Projects such as the Soeima Hospital, Light Gauge Steel House or Kawagoe Music Apartment were awarded with the good Design Gold Prize by the Japan Industrial design Promotion Organization, and the Roof House was awarded the coveted Yoshioka Awards in 2002 as well as the two Japan Institute of Architects in 2003. The work of Takaharu + Yui Tezuka permanently develop new and unconventional solutions through spatial drawings that are carefully integrated into the surrounding scenery and through combinations of contemporary architecture elements with traditional spatial and aesthetic concepts. As for single-family homes, their starting point for the architectural concept is complete openness, whether it’s towards an interior spot of the house, namely the interior garden, or towards the exterior – the surrounding scenery. This planimetric scheme leads to the two contemplative, pictorial, stage design orientations of the house, namely towards the sky, on the vertical axis or towards the skyline, on the horizontal axis.

Situated near the biggest park in Sao Paolo, the Corten house is a compact space, purged of any kind of unnecessary and unessential ornamental detail: the links between the materials or surfaces that are made from that material are made exclusively by the use of small joints, no plinths, no guards or any other intermediary element, which in an overview creates an extraordinarily clear and minimalistic poetic image. Overlapping an extremely simplified volumetric sketch focused solely on proportions between white and textures, the absence of details (power outlets and switches, framed doors etc) allows us to sit back and quietly admire the materials such as stone, wood and metal as they peacefully unravel in an architectural design that is pleasantly repetitive. The fence facing the street, made out of vertical wooden elements, comprises two access panels, separated from the fixed part by the use of a higher degree of transparency. The main facade is completely opaque: a box coated in Corten weathering steel that sits over a wooden wall, with a side that opens up in the shape of a access door; the only details that act as mediators between the fixed and mobile parts are two joints and a metallic plate replacing the latch.
Nothing in the image of the facade gives away the structure behind it, its height or any of the interior finishes, aside from the two lateral walls that are completely white with the exception of the window framing at the upper level.

This family residence received the grand prize during this year's Bucharest Architecture Annual. The house stands out amongst other recent projects precisely through its simplicity. It is difficult for an architect to be original using minimalistic shapes and materials, especially if he sets out to turn his project into an iconic image. The house's volume is as simple as can be: a full white body with four corners cut out of it, each pair of them diametrically opposed to the others. The innovative element consists in the psychological tension induced by the two corners and their ample consoles, as well as in the consequence proven by the architect's following of the principle of full vs. hollow. The few large glazed areas are placed on the volume's sectioned facades, the main "box" remaining untouched. The surprise element, completing the basic principles mentioned above, resides in the theme of circular hollows of apparently random dimensions, placed in groups in various areas of the full volume. Whether it's the windows (in the bedroom and along the halls) or the ceilings, the rounded hollows are a dynamic, playful presence, bringing to mind air bubbles that have stopped for a moment on one or another of the walls.

The interior design of this Constanța apartment, nominated for an award during the 2010 Bucharest Architecture Annual seems to open a gateway to another dimension, where space is eradicated through its own very openness. The fluorescent accents, bringing to mind the set of a science-fiction film, function as landmarks in a sea of whiteness, without damaging the almost supernatural environment in any way. One of the starting points for the concept behind the project was the site's location near the Black Sea, the sea being the ultimate symbol of immeasurable space, filled with mysteries, where the supernatural becomes more then possible - it becomes probable. The apartment was conceived as an open space, functioning by its own set of rules - completely different from those of Newtonian physics. The first step in this direction was the demolishing of all interior walls, followed by the creation of a completely white background. At an immediate level, this could have proven to be a risky move, as the abolishing of all limitations may lead to the institution of chaos. Nevertheless, the risk was ingeniously avoided, through the placing of the furniture pieces serving the same function in small groups. Thus, function triumphed over chaos, stating itself from the very beginning. The groups of more or less coloured objects thus appear as a series of islands floating on the sea of white, yet solidly anchored in it.

Located near the edge of the Romanian territory, in the heart of the historical region of Maramureș, surrounded by hills on all sides and guarded by the rivers Iza and Tisa, marking the crossroads of several important commercial routes, not far from the salt mines in the area, the town of Sighetu Marmației was the capital of Maramureș for 600 years, back when the region stretched from Prislop and the Gutâi Mountains all the way to the Tatra Mountains. "Throughout the whole of Maramureș, there's no place like Sighet" - thus goes a folk song that any native of the town of Sighet will proudly sing whenever he gets the chance. For this little town in northern Romania - right up there, where the map ends - can charm anyone who wanders around the archaic looking land of Maramureș. This is also the reason why, within our series of articles dedicated to historical centres, we decided to stop here for the next four issues. As is the tradition of this section of our magazine, we will start by an overview of the old town, then continue by discussing its civilian and religious architecture - which constitutes an important part of the country's heritage. Finally, we will analyze the way new buildings were inserted into the historical tissue, often damaging it.