Articles by Hana Abdel

Lantern House sits quietly among the oaks of Austin’s Bouldin Creek; a study in light, material, and restraint. The design transforms a densely wooded urban lot into a private sanctuary, where filtered daylight and layered transparency define the rhythm of daily life.

Built in 1811 on the banks of the Rivière des Mille Îles, the Aubé house is a patriot’s home nestled in the heart of a vast garden, a remnant of former farmland. Inhabited by the same family for generations, this site has become, over time, the stage for a multigenerational architectural and human story. Faced with evolving uses and the accumulation of ad hoc interventions, the owners wished to restore the heritage home to its original coherence and strength, while also increasing its capacity.

Remotely accessed via a winding former stagecoach road north-east of Healdsburg, California, the 2019 Kincade Fire destroyed the original off-grid house. The pioneering resourcefulness of the clients allowed them to embrace an alternative, landscape-driven lifestyle that follows the spirit of the nearby original historic Pine Flat community – a boomtown that flourished in the Mayacamas Mountains during the quicksilver and mercury rush in the 1870s.

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The Roberval Courthouse is set within an exceptional natural site, at the heart of the historic downtown, at the meeting point between a heritage urban fabric and the lakeshore landscape of Lac Saint-Jean. This context revealed both strong potential and complex challenges for the project: restoring a fragile century-old building, repairing past interventions that had severed its relationship with the lake, modernizing judicial spaces, integrating a substantial expansion without compromising the building’s symbolic value, and improving accessibility and security.

Located in Chicoutimi, Saguenay, l’école de l’Étincelle is a shining example of architecture firmly rooted in its context. The architectural approach rethinks the conventional school and proposes a scale that is friendly, accessible, and reassuring for children. Fragmented into small houses around a central courtyard, the architecture becomes familiar and warm, creating a calming and reassuring atmosphere that encourages students to love school and feel comfortable, just like at home.

Located in Chicoutimi, Saguenay, l’école de l’Étincelle is a shining example of architecture firmly rooted in its context. The architectural approach rethinks the conventional school and proposes a scale that is friendly, accessible, and reassuring for children. Fragmented into small houses around a central courtyard, the architecture becomes familiar and warm, creating a calming and reassuring atmosphere that encourages students to love school and feel comfortable, just like at home.

To fully know a city’s architectural heritage, one must look beyond its designated sites and iconic buildings. For many, understanding a city’s urban fabric and what makes it tick also means discovering the smaller-scale, locally appreciated, conserved buildings and popular gathering spaces. This is especially true when considering bustling Vietnamese cities, with their peculiar architectural characteristics, which can only be appreciated when learning about their many inspirations and historic layers, combining traditional Vietnamese motifs, modernism, local materiality, and climatic design solutions, but mostly by learning about the site constraints that are addressed through the implementation of the narrow tube houses and low-rise buildings.