Spherical Design in Rustic Western Red Cedar Wood Shingles

Tucked quietly in a corner of your existing home’s property or as an independent structure all its own, this compact garden shed is an insulated sphere measuring three meters in diameter. With this smart wooden prefab structure, you can extend your home’s living space without going through the cost and inconvenience of a home addition and renovation. A top-hinged gull-wing door swings open, resembling a spaceship to welcome you into this ultra-modern design. The small design lets you isolate the intended function of a space, so whether you use it as a home office, an artist’s studio, a guest house, a kids’ play room or an adult retreat, this cool shed provides peace and privacy aplenty. The spherical design is clad in rustic Western Red Cedar wood shingles, giving the shed a country-chic aesthetic. The small design lets you isolate the intended function of a space, so whether you use it as a home office, an artist’s studio, a guest house, a kids’ play room or an adult retreat, this cool shed provides peace and privacy aplenty. Interiors are fully plastered and ready to decorate in your style, your way. At the top of the dome, a skylight floods interiors with natural light. Whimsical as it looks, this small garden shed is big on function, featuring a 2.9-meter internal diameter ready to fill with your work and play essentials.

Interior AUT Lecture Theatres and Conference Centre in Auckland, New Zealand

AUT Lecture Theatres and Conference Centre by RTA Studio

AUT Lecture Theatres and Conference Centre Exterior 1

AUT Lecture Theatres and Conference Centre Exterior 2

AUT Lecture Theatres and Conference Centre Interior 1

Located in Auckland, New Zealand, AUT Lecture Theatres & Conference Centre was designed by RTA Studio. The building seeks to respond to its unique context and location in the Pacific Rim by acknowledging the local aspects of the site and the culture of Auckland. The geomorphology of the site has evolved from unique events both volcanic and subsequently sedimentary and metamorphic. This has left a ‘geological encryption’ seen in the stratification of the surrounding landform. Auckland has one of the largest and most diverse populations of Polynesian people in the world. Tattooing is common to all these cultures. This ‘cultural encryption’ can be seen in a cross-section of Auckland’s people.

These geomorphic forms rise out of the volcanic geology of the region (lying buried below the ground surface). The smaller of the two theatres slides out of the other. This cave-like form offers the necessary architectural attributes to control the interior conditions required for high-tech audio-visual lecture theatres. The ‘sky’ encloses the multifunctional space by way of clouds clinging to the landform and covering the plateau below. This floating series of roofs allows a flexibility of function to occur below by way of operable walls and furniture arrangement. The layering of roofs in a saw-tooth formation also allows natural light to enter the space like sun through the clouds.

The building utilises a number of ecologically sustainable principles; mixed mode ventilation, recycled carpet tiles, rainwater harvesting, low energy light fittings, passive solar design and low embodied energy materials.