Articles by Andreas Luco

Curly Cube is a modular public art installation that transforms public spaces into vibrant hubs for social interaction and engagement. Set in a park along Shanghai’s Huangpu River, the installation features a seamless, curvilinear form crafted from tensile membranes stretched over lightweight 2-meter square frames. Inspired by the Gyroid minimal surface, the design combines visual fluidity with material efficiency, creating a striking and sustainable structure.

On the slope above the Krkonoše village of Strážné, a timber log cottage once stood. It was swallowed by the era of mass recreation, along with respect for ownership, craftsmanship, people, objects, and nature. The original house was concealed beneath layers of alterations, extensions, and makeshift additions, poor repairs, and artificial panel cladding. Unfortunately, almost nothing of the original cottage remained worth saving. The small amount of preserved original structures was, for the most part, in poor technical condition. Rather than merely preserving its material substance, the aim therefore became to rediscover the spirit of the house.

Located in Ascázubi, at the foot of Pambamarca Hill, the project originated as a refuge: a space for pause and contemplation for bike park users seeking shelter from the harsh Andean climate.

In the city of San Bernardino, within a residential development set on a hillside overlooking Lake Ypacaraí, this project consists of two twin houses designed to engage directly with the landscape.

The Xi Bridge (the Bridge of Happiness) is a newly added signature structure in Huashan Greenland, Shanghai. It lightly spans a stream and nestles within the trees. Serving both as the accessible route from the city street to the central lawn and as a small ceremonial space within the park, it is at once a piece of infrastructure and a place of ritual.

Casa Ladera is located on a steep hillside facing Lake Puyehue in southern Chile, within a temperate rainforest of native hualle trees. We understand the site not as a difficulty to overcome, but as the condition that structures the project. The slope defines the volumetric strategy, the support system, and the programmatic organization.

Facing the options of urbanizing the jungle, deforestation for monoculture, or creating intangible protection zones, there is another option: the chakra. The chakra is a Kichwa concept and, above all, a model of ancestral agroecology based on high biodiversity. This model of land use and management achieves the double goal of conserving the ecosystem while simultaneously producing within it. This strategic approach is the one adopted by Witoca to drive social, economic, and environmental sustainability. The project is located in the community of Huaticocha, in the buffer zone of the Sumaco Biosphere Reserve, in the Ecuadorian Amazon.