From October 29th to 30th, 2022, the Final Review Meeting, Award Ceremony and Cross-border Forum of the 「Beyond YUE｜Jianhu Revival」Shaoxing Jianhu Planning and Design Competition were successfully held at Jianhu in Keqiao. After 11 months of international competition, gathering talents from all over the world and global wisdom, the design and cultural event was held in October to kickstart the transformation of Shaoxing's Jianhu.
According to a survey by the Brazilian Association for Recycling of Construction and Demolition Waste (ABRECON), there has been an increase in the recycling of construction and demolition waste (C&D) in Brazil in recent years. According to the 2015 report, 21% of the total C&D was recycled in the country that year, while in 2013 the rate was 19%.
The outlook is promising but not yet ideal, and the growth of recycled C&D materials is still considered small. In Brazil, construction waste can represent between 50% and 70% of the total municipal solid waste. This means, we still need to advocate for a more common practice of material recycling and reuse in architecture, especially in Brazil.
What is good architecture? More than two thousand years ago, Vitruvius would have answered that good architecture is that which contemplates three basic principles: firmitas (firmness), utilitas (utility), and venustas (beauty), as he described in his treatise De Architectura, and probably no one would have questioned it. Today, this broad question is capable of eliciting hundreds of answers, all personal and subjective, which have to do with the experience of each person.
“All the physical spaces that we (architects) design – buildings, interiors and cities are born as metaspaces, and we call them 3D models”. With this statement Brian Jencek, director of planning at San Francisco-based architecture firm HOK, narrows the boundaries between the current way of designing and the future of architecture in the metaverse. According to him, we are not that far from this technology, since we already use the same tools that visual designers use to create realistic environments, such as Unity, Twin motion and Blender.
Quay Quarter Tower (QQT), designed by 3XN has been declared the World Building of the Year 2022 at the fifteenth annual World Architecture Festival (WAF), held in Lisbon.
The 206-meter tower, located close to the Sydney Opera House, is an office building arranged as a vertical village, creating a sense of community and providing spaces that focus on collaboration, health, well-being and external terraces.
Talking to architect Marta Maccaglia about her work is not just talking about architecture. Each of her projects derives from a participatory way of working, based on the approach and deep understanding of its users in their social and local context, their needs, the territory and the available resources, resulting in works that acquire a meaning beyond that of the function itself.
Unlike classical architecture, characterized by a series of rooms with very defined functions and spaces, the current architectural design seeks to integrate spaces to achieve high degrees of adaptability and flexibility. In this way, the boundaries of the enclosures are blurred and new solutions appear that are worth analyzing. In the case of bedrooms, bathrooms are often no longer a small and secluded adjoining room – instead, they are now integrated to form a multifunctional space that is subtly concealed. Just like Mies van der Rohe, who used to group services in strategic areas to create open floors, let's review some cases that have adopted the specific solution of the hidden bathroom just behind the bed.
"Life, space, buildings - in that order". This phrase, from the Danish urban architect Jan Gehl, sums up the changes that Copenhagen has undergone in the last 50 years. Currently known as one of the cities with the highest levels of quality of life satisfaction, the way its public spaces and buildings were and are designed have inspired architects, government authorities and urban planners around the world. What we see today, however, is the result of courageous decision-making, much observation and, above all, designs that put people first. Copenhagen will be the UNESCO-UIA World Capital of Architecture in 2023 as well as host of the UIA World Congress of Architects due to its strong legacy in innovative architecture and urban development, along with its concerted efforts in matters of climate, sustainability solutions and livability.
Meinhard von Gerkan, founder of von Gerkan, Marg and Partners Architects (gmp), and one of the most influential German architects, passed away in Hamburg at the age of 87, on November 30, 2022. With a worldwide contribution to the field of architecture, in his 50 years of career, von Gerkan has created one of the largest practices in Germany, with 600 employees in seven locations. University professor and critic, the architect together with gmp, has completed more than 500 projects all over the world.
Foster + Partners has been announced as the winner of the competition to design the new King Salman International Airport in Riyadh. Saudi culture and identity drive the airport's architectural design to ensure a unique travel experience for visitors and transit travelers. The master plan will boost Saudi Arabia's capital as a global logistics hub, stimulate transport, trade, and tourism, and act as a bridge connecting 180 million passengers from East to West.
Atelier TAO+C, Weston Williamson + Partners, OHLAB and JC Architecture are among the award category winners announced on the second day of the World Architecture Festival in Lisbon. The festival’s judges recognized a diverse array of completed, future and interior projects across over 20 categories.
In recent years hair salons and barbershops have begun to incorporate different activities - a programmatic hybridization almost necessary in today's service economy.
Several architects have been commissioned to propose alternatives to the standard beauty salon/barbershop to not only address an efficient configuration but stunning interior aesthetics.
Take a look at 10 barbershops and beauty salons with their plan and section.
This article was originally published on Common Edge.
Authenticity seems impossible today, with places and the buildings in them assembled with products from the Industrial Development Complex that could be assembled almost anywhere else on Earth in a debauchery of placelessness, disharmony with nature, and meaninglessness that doesn’t age well. So how is authenticity in the built environment achieved?
Organized by the Abdullatif Alfozan Award for Mosque Architecture and the College of Architecture at Kuwait University, the 3rd International Conference on Mosque Architecture was held in Kuwait on 14-16 November 2022. Under the theme of “Mosque: a cross cultural building,” 101 architects participated in this year’s edition, showcasing their state-of-the-art designs and how they reimagined religious buildings in a more contemporary context, taking into account the importance of community, privacy, its religious significance, and the environment.
The city of Helsinki has announced White Arkitekter and K2S Architects as the winners of the competition to design a new waterfront cultural destination in the Makasiiniranta area of Helsinki’s South Harbor. The redevelopment includes the site of a New Museum of Architecture and Design. Titled ‘Saaret,’ which translates to ‘The Islands,’ the proposal aims to create a well-integrated development that brings together cultural and sustainable environments. It also promises to improve the area’s microclimate and create bio-diverse habitats by using the space available on the rooftops to add beehives, vegetable and herb gardens.
World Architecture Festival, opened its doors yesterday in Lisbon. Following an exciting day of live presentations, in which hundreds of shortlisted projects were presented by architectural and design practices from around the world, the first award winners of the 2022 festival have been announced. Amongst the first day’s award category winners are Woods Bagot, Sanjay Puri Architects, HKS, White Arkitekter and many more.
Windows serve multiple essential functions in any project, from framing views to providing daylight and natural ventilation. As human needs have shifted and technology has advanced significantly throughout the years, these have evolved in character, shape, and use of materials. What began as small arrow loops used for defense in medieval fortifications later transformed into wider openings that exemplified status and wealth. The Romans were the first to use glass, but it was considered a precious commodity for centuries. Intricate stained-glass panels adorned countless of medieval churches and cathedrals, while most home dwellers had to settle for covering their “windows” with wood, fur and other materials.
Follow along during the 15th edition of the World Architecture Festival through ArchDaily's Live Stream. As the world’s biggest architectural awards program, WAF brings together more than 2,000 architects and designers to Lisbon for three days of conference programs, awards, and exhibition events from November 30 to December 2. Tune in to our Facebook live streams for a selection of lectures.
As a starting point for architectural projects, the terrain and its topography point out the directions that the distribution of the program can follow. Among them, one solution stands out for the continuity between topography and architecture: lowering the level of construction and advancing the land over the roof. From this roof garden created with the same characteristics as the surroundings, the result gives the impression of an almost non-existent intervention.
The incorporation of the land as an architectural element takes up, in a certain way, the concept of caves, reinforcing an idea of shelter and reception from a hybrid between the initial and natural configuration and the architectural intervention.
The Westminister City Council adopted a resolution to grant planning permission to the National Gallery for a series of adaptations, including Selldorf Architects’ restoration proposal for the Sainsbury Wing, originally designed by Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown. The plans to remodel were revealed earlier this year as part of the NG200 Project to celebrate the National Gallery’s bicentennial in 2024. The first intervention proposal for the Sainsbury Wing was met with widespread criticism, which led to a revision of the plans, released in October this year.
The Buffalo AKG Art Museum (formerly known as the Albright-Knox Art Gallery) has announced that it will welcome its first visitors on the 25th of May, 2023. Revamped and expanded, the new campus designed by OMA/Shohei Shigematsu in collaboration with Cooper Robertson features “new work of signature architecture, the Jeffrey E. Gundlach building, and extensive renovation to existing buildings”.
"History of the villas in the city of Buenos Aires. From the origins to the present day" is the book by Valeria Snitcofsky that reconstructs the historical background of the villas in the city of Buenos Aires based on research that began in 2003 and whose advances were expressed in a bachelor's and a doctoral thesis. It is framed within the objective of the Tejido Urbano Foundation, which is focused on promoting research and the generation of knowledge on the problems of habitat and housing.
Shelves have a clear function: to organize, store and display. This simple, yet vital role has made them a must in every household, keeping the place neat and tidy by holding books, clothes, toys or any other items that would otherwise be scattered on the floor. Although usually found in closets, bedrooms, bathrooms and kitchens, shelves are useful wherever the extra storage is necessary. They are especially ideal for making the most out of small rooms, which will always benefit from having cleaner, clutter-free floor space. Responding to this crucial storage need and following a strict 'form follows function' approach, traditional shelves are often comprised of minimal, flat horizontal planes attached to a wall –a simple layout that is not particularly meant to draw attention. Hence, people don’t tend to think about shelving ideas beyond storage, and in that sense, the countless design possibilities they offer are often overlooked.
In hospitality, first impressions count. Corian® Solid Surface – an exclusive product of Corian® Design, a division of DuPont company – has become a more and more regular guest in hotels over the past decades as designers and architects look to create highly hygienic and adaptable interior designs. designboom and ArchDaily conclude its three-part webinar series with the material producer, this time to explore the future of hospitality design. Leading architectural and design experts join the live conversation, including TBI Architecture & Engineering, JOI-Design and Ultraspace – Register for this webinar.
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