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The Buildner bookshop / Ideas worth keeping
For minds
that build.
A new perspective. A spark for your next project. Books that belong on your desk, and in your thinking.
Find your next read01–12Architecture. Design. Possibility.
In print & on screen.
In print & on screen.
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Your next big idea
starts here.
From a single chair to a different way of living.
Find the perspective you’re looking for.
The printed books
Made to be
held.
Six of the titles come in print, from a 256-page hardcover to a notebook that fits in a pocket. Printed copies ship free, worldwide.
The review
Nine minutes
inside a book.
Show It Better, the YouTube channel on communicating architecture visually, goes through What is Small-Scale Architecture?, from the interviews to the competition designs.
A review by Show It Better, on Buildner’s YouTube channel.
In their words
Two architects,
two questions.
Every ARCHHIVE book asks one question. Ben van Berkel and Kengo Kuma answer two of them.
Ben van BerkelFounder and principal architect, UNStudio, Amsterdam.What is Small-Scale Architecture?“Small scale projects sometimes generate ideas which can later be extended to larger scale projects. They not only perform as a testing ground for geometric, material and construction related considerations, but they are also invaluable when testing ideas on a conceptual level. Or better said, how to combine the two.”
Kengo KumaFounder, Kengo Kuma & Associates, Tokyo.What is Affordable Housing?“In our current era, it’s imperative to reevaluate and alter our understanding of ‘living’ within a home. The key aspect of this evolution is ensuring that all housing we envision and bring to life must be accessible in terms of affordability.”
The MICROHOME collection / Issues 01–04
Less space.
More possibility.
Small homes are a testing ground for big ideas. Explore built projects and competition concepts that rethink how we live.
See all four issuesYour desk. Your device. Your choice.
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A library that goes with you.
Take your reading from the studio to the train. Digital editions for your laptop, tablet, or phone.
The best of both worlds.
The printed edition for your desk and its digital companion for everywhere else. Available on selected titles.
Find your perfect pair ↗From the world of Buildner
Good architecture starts
with an open mind.
For over a decade, Buildner has brought architectural ideas into the world through international competitions. These books bring that spirit to your bookshelf: different voices, unexpected approaches, and possibilities worth exploring.
Discover Buildner ↗- 12
- titles, in print and PDF
- 1,800+
- pages
- 590+
- projects, essays, interviews and poems
- 15
- years of Buildner competitions
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What format are the digital editions?
Digital books and MICROHOME magazines are supplied as PDFs. A print + PDF bundle includes both editions of the same title.
Inside the book
Two halls.
Not one word.
Architectural Emotions gathers projects from several editions of Buildner’s Museum of Emotions competition. Every entry is a museum with two halls, one to stir a dark feeling and one to lift it, and every idea is told without a word: text is not allowed on the boards.
- 72
- museums
- 33
- countries and territories
- 2
- halls in every museum
- 0
- words allowed on the boards
The printed book
A dark cover,
pink edges.
Hardcover, landscape, 297 × 240 mm, 151 pages in colour.
Turn the pages
Big pictures.
No captions.
Real spreads from the printed book. Each museum gets two pages, and the pictures do all the talking.
Pages 6–7. Pablo Landeo Mochcco, Peru. 
Pages 16–17. András Graf, Hungary. 
Pages 28–29. James Li, Australia. 
Pages 64–65. Woojin An, South Korea. 
Pages 84–85. Predrag Vujanovic, Sweden. 
Pages 96–97. Martin Goča, Jakub Hanzl, Anežka Kašiarová, Robert Provazník, Slovakia. 
Pages 122–123. Valentina Fesenko, Rania Matrouk, Hungary. 
Pages 148–149. Kunthi Kunthi, British Indian Ocean Territory.
The brief
A museum
of two feelings.
The Museum of Emotions is Buildner’s yearly competition about one question: how far can architecture go in making people feel something? Each entry is a museum with two exhibition halls, one designed to stir a negative emotion and one a positive one. Which two is up to the designer, from fear, anger or anxiety to love or happiness.
The site can be real or imagined and the size anything at all. And the competition is silent: no descriptions, no labels, not even words on a diagram. Every idea has to arrive through images. The book gathers entries from several editions.
Eight things that change how a room feels
- 01Light
Daylight lifts a room; harsh light and deep shadow unsettle it.
- 02Flow
A clear path puts you at ease; dead ends and sharp turns do the opposite.
- 03Materials
Wood and earth feel warm; raw, hard or clashing surfaces feel cold.
- 04Colour
Soft tones calm, bright ones wake you up, clashing ones disturb.
- 05Scale
Good proportions feel orderly; a low ceiling or a giant room presses on you.
- 06Nature
Plants, water and a view outside bring calm.
- 07People
Places that gather people lift them; noise and crowds wear them down.
- 08Memory
Objects and images carry stories, from the remains of a war to a room of toys.
From the jury
Judged without a single caption.
- Françoise N’ThepeArchitect, France. The silent rule makes designers clear, and the same few ideas keep returning in new forms.
- Stephanie DeumerVisual artist, Canada. With no text to lean on, judging rests on diagrams, sketches and renders.
- Angelo RennaArchitect, Italy. Looked for how each museum rethinks our bond with nature, and saw ecology growing.
Case studies
Six museums,
two feelings each.
Six of the 72, read from their pictures alone, as the jury had to. Page numbers are those of the printed book.
01
A red sun over a blue room
Andrea Horas, Lluis Marcet
Spain
A section drawn in fine pink line puts a vast red sphere above a pale blue room, with stairs climbing between them.
The renders go from a red haze, where visitors stand close together, to a sky-blue room where people seem to float.
- Red heat against sky blue
- Stairs between the two halls
- Told in one pink section drawing
Pages 8–9
02
Ground that swirls like a fingerprint
Ivan Chi Fung Tam
Hong Kong
On a black page, grey ground ripples and curls as if the stone had been stirred, and two hands reach for each other beside it.
On the next page the same waves turn warm terracotta, deep enough for a tiny visitor to walk through.
- Grey stone against warm clay
- Hands as the way in
- One shape, two moods
Pages 10–11
03
A path in the sun, a corridor in the dark
Peter Vatkov
United States
A straight path crosses a green meadow to a thin glass tower that catches the sky.
Its opposite is a concrete corridor so narrow and dark that one person fills it, and the light barely reaches in.
- Open sky against a tight corridor
- Glass against concrete
- Drawn as long, thin plans
Pages 12–13
04
Bright colour, then grey stone
Po-Yu Chung, Yu-Jun Yeh
United States
One hall is a set of small rooms, each soaked in one bright colour, from turquoise and orange to red and yellow.
The other is a colonnade of rough grey stone, where the only colour left is the light falling between the columns.
- Pure colour against raw stone
- Rooms shown in plan and section
- Light as the second material
Pages 26–27
05
Across the water, into the rock
Rocío Rocco Espinoza, Daniel Muñoz Ramírez
Chile
A long wooden jetty crosses turquoise water to a concrete wall set between two cliffs, dark cypress trees at its door.
Inside, a stone room lit by one square of sky gives way to gardens growing between the walls.
- Arrival by water
- A dark room with one skylight
- Gardens inside the walls
Pages 34–35
06
Two boxes on a misty lake
Maksim Chirkin
Kyrgyzstan
Two glass boxes sit on a lake in the mist, one glowing red, the other ice blue.
Inside the red one, light cuts a sharp V through the dark. Inside the blue one, a round opening lets the sky down onto the water.
- Hot red against cold blue
- Each feeling its own building
- Water all around
Pages 120–121
More from the book
Walk into
another museum.
A wider look at the museums inside, with their designers and the page each one starts on. Choose a thread to follow.
Pablo Landeo Mochcco
Peru, page 6
Andrea Horas, Lluis Marcet
Spain, page 8
Ivan Chi Fung Tam
Hong Kong, page 10
Peter Vatkov
United States, page 12
Jeehye Choi, Soojin Kim
South Korea, page 14
András Graf
Hungary, page 16
Je Yen Tan
Australia, page 18
Cristina Popescu
Romania, page 20
Nadeem Mohiuddin
United States, page 22
Jeong Eun An, Yu Bin Jeon, Eun Young Seo
South Korea, page 24
Po-Yu Chung, Yu-Jun Yeh
United States, page 26
James Li
Australia, page 28
Yasin Yahya Atasoy, Ecem Naz Kirimlikurt, Beatriz Pozo Cáceres
Italy, page 30
Valentina Fesenko, Anna Nakhshkaryan, Anna Neroslova, Marina Politova
Hungary, page 32
Rocío Rocco Espinoza, Daniel Muñoz Ramírez
Chile, page 34
Lukas Goumas, Georgia Ntoutsi
Greece, page 36
Bilge Altug, Demet Dincer, Mehmet Metin Polat
Australia, page 38
Alexandra Knezovičová
Slovakia, page 40
Nicolò Capece, Letteria Pittari
Italy, page 42
Shizuka Watanabe
Belgium, page 44
Duarte Franco Da Rosa, Henrique Moreira, Teresinha Almeida Ribeiro
Portugal, page 46
Bruna Braga
Portugal, page 48
Darby Melvin
Canada, page 50
Qiuying Lu, Siyu Mao
United States, page 52
Alexandra Baidac
UK, page 54
Eszter Bernadett Barna
Hungary, page 56
Suhyun Ahn, Nawoo Jung, Min Kim, Sean Park
United States, page 58
Mira Silke Gerhart, Felix Zaglauer
Germany, page 60
Amine Jalil Kinefuchi, Anita Wiśniewska
France, page 62
Woojin An
South Korea, page 64
Asiya Mannan, Kiymet Shevket
UK, page 66
Margaux Loubser
South Africa, page 68
Evan Burgess
United States, page 70
Edward Chan, Wing Yan Chan, Janice Leung
Hong Kong, page 72
José Chitongua, Martinho Kutaya, Daniel Pacheco, Inês Semedo
Portugal, page 74
Sebastian Alarcon
United States, page 76
Sindi Dojaka, Sungmin Song
UK, page 78
Alexandra Kozaňáková, Roman Ruhig, Ema Ruhigová, Lukáš Stas
Slovakia, page 80
Aleeya Khan
Pakistan, page 82
Predrag Vujanovic
Sweden, page 84
Vyshnav Kattikoloth, Kyle Petersen
United States, page 86
Linda Brokmar, Martin Smedsén
Sweden, page 88
Christopher Boon
United States, page 90
Octavio Preciado, Gonzalo Sales, Alejandro Sotres
Mexico, page 92
Marium Hesham, Hassan Mohamed, Youssef Mohamed, Fayrouz Khalid
Egypt, page 94
Martin Goča, Jakub Hanzl, Anežka Kašiarová, Robert Provazník
Slovakia, page 96
Tatiana Molchanova
Ukraine, page 98
Elissa Attieh, Imad Haydar, Mia Karim, Stephany Abdel Massih
Lebanon, page 100
Christopher Putt
United States, page 102
David Acevedo, Diego Estrada, Mariana Merlo Zurinaga
Puerto Rico, page 104
Edward Stefan Kiss, Denisa Anamaria Landler
Romania, page 106
Michalina Grzyb
Poland, page 108
Minyao Cher, Mustafa Safaa, Yi Chee Wong
Malaysia, page 110
Daniel Muñoz Ramirez
Chile, page 112
Xinzi Deng, King Yi Wong
Hong Kong, page 114
Ethan Blatt
United States, page 116
Xiaodan Zhou
China, page 118
Maksim Chirkin
Kyrgyzstan, page 120
Valentina Fesenko, Rania Matrouk
Hungary, page 122
Sara Popa
Romania, page 124
Martyna Kramarz
Poland, page 126
Andres Higa
Peru, page 128
Jovana Bošković, Jelena Korolija, Teodor Šćepanović
Serbia, page 130
Yihang Yan
United States, page 132
Wojciech Rzyczniak, Grzegorz Sygiet, Tytus Tarczyński
Poland, page 134
Hao Lee, YenTing Yeh
Taiwan, page 136
Danny Pang
Canada, page 138
Huei Shyang Lim
Malaysia, page 140
Barbara Saurty
France, page 142
Zhili Chen, Jingyi Hou, Jiachen Li, Wenjun Zhu
China, page 144
Xinyue Dong, Jiaxun Song, Zehong Zhang
China, page 146
Kunthi Kunthi
British Indian Ocean Territory, page 148
Words and pictures from the book, Architectural Emotions 1 (Buildner). Every museum and its images by the designers named; the cover project by Christian Dummermuth, Germany.
