The term ‘Architectural Forensics’ varies in definition. In short, it refers to the investigation of the built environment, whether that be in relation to crime and injustice or an investigative process to discover the root cause of damage and deterioration in buildings. Often forensic architects are invited to identify potential issues and advise in how to avoid them. The role of this architect is to remain unbiased, identify issues within construction, determine potential causes and suggest solutions. They are to uncover factual evidence, which may aid in future construction or provide answers to issues associated with a particular built environment.
Social responsibility and the desire to improve society has long been influenced by the built environment. Looking at city centers, architecture has contributed to the improvement of the urban fabric, whether it being through planning and zoning strategies, integration of public spaces, or small interventions. In some cases however, these interventions are in fact used as tools to keep the homeless off the streets, disguised as art or conceptual designs. Several public urban policies have all implicitly prohibited the homeless and other marginalized social groups from city centers, claiming that their presence and “irregular” use of public space could compromise the reputation, security, and desirability of the city.
Henning Larsen has unveiled the "Fritz Hansen Pavilion", a sustainably-designed pavilion for the 3daysofdesign event in Copenhagen. Set in Designmuseum's Grønnegården, the Pavilion is developed with a Nordic approach, centered around daylight, using low-carbon materials, and circular design principles. The pavilion is designed to be disassembled, ensuring that its materials can be reused elsewhere. The pavilion will be open to the public during 3daysofdesign 15 – 17 June, and will then be used by Designmuseum Danmark until mid- Autumn.
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Designed for an insurance company, The Centraal Beheer building by Herman Hertzberger in Apeldoorn, Netherlands, is widely recognized as one of the high points of the structuralist movement. MVRDV, in consultation with Herman Hertzberger’s office AHH, is transforming the celebrated building, making it the centerpiece of a new sustainable residential neighborhood while preserving its structure and core principles. The project is part of a larger area of development, a three-hectare site near the city’s train station. MVRDV’s design proposal introduces approximately 650-800 homes while keeping the focus on preservation, greening, and innovation.
The origins of brutalism can be traced to the UK in the 1950s during the post-war period. However, there is no clear record of its initial boundaries or theoretical frameworks. Despite this, it is widely agreed that it sought to uphold constructive sincerity as its main value and that it had, in the execution of Le Corbusier's Marseille Housing Unit (1952), a turning point for its global diffusion (Casado, 2019). For authors such as Banham (1966) or Collins (1977), constructive sincerity in Brutalist buildings does not only refer to material or technical criteria, but also to moral, political or ethical ones. These variables, in nations such as Peru, were fundamental and built an aesthetic while trying, through and from architecture, to construct an idea of a country. This essay seeks to be an approximation to these ideas and experiences.
This article was originally published on Common Edge
Four years ago, the Pritzker Prize–winner Tadao Ando spectacularly converted a 1920s apartment building in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago into exhibition spaces for a gallery named—in deference to its street address—Wrightwood 659. The gallery is currently staging a resourceful exhibition on wood-frame construction, the method by which more than 90% of U.S. houses are built.
Rarely has wood-framing been the subject of an architectural show. It’s too mundane a topic—or at least it seemed that way until two associate professors at the University of Illinois Chicago, Paul Andersen and Paul Preissner, conceived the American Framing exhibition for the U.S. Pavilion at the 2021 Venice Architecture Biennale. One year after Venice, the much talked-about exhibition makes its American debut at Wrightwood 659.
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The Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize (MCHAP) announced the 48 outstanding projects selected by the MCHAP 2022 jury. From the body of nominated projects, the jury elected 38 entries in MCHAP as outstanding among other submissions. The fourth prize cycle considers built works completed in the Americas between January 2018 to December 2021, nominated by an anonymous network of international experts and professionals.
The Making+Meaning summer studio program exposes participants to a wide range of techniques within a conceptual design framework, pitting the everyday against the unusual to create exploratory content and experiences.
For its 60th and first post-pandemic edition, the Salone del Mobile.Milano was back in full force following two years of setbacks and alternations between digital and physical events. The week-long exhibition, which welcomed over 262,000 visitors from across the world, highlighted the opportunities of environmental consciousness, inviting designers to adopt and reinforce the values of sustainability in the long term, support the protection of human rights, and promote environmental responsibility through design.
One of the most anticipated installations within the Fiera was a centerpiece by Italian architect Mario Cucinella titled “Design With Nature”. The large-scale installation demonstrated the various ways people can improve their relationship with nature, inviting visitors to eat, drink, converse, and work in a piazza-inspired space. During Milan Design Week, ArchDaily had the chance to speak with the architect to discuss the concept behind his installation, the relationship between the city of Milano and Salone, and the importance of valuing our natural resources.
Dock A, the largest dock of the Zurich Airport, was the subject of international competition. BIG forms the winning team as design lead with HOK as aviation architect, 10:8 architects, engineer Buro Happold, timber experts Pirmin Jung, and aviation consultant NACO. Their design proposal centers on passenger experience and movement through the airport. A pared-back material palette reveals the loadbearing system of the building: V-shaped timber columns provide both a structural function and a distinctive identity true to its place and era, according to the jury.
For varied reasons, architects have been driven away from professional practice. Sometimes, however, they continue to design buildings in other media and support. Vinicius Libardoni is an Italian-Brazilian architect and artist who migrated from Autocad to metal engraving, passing through woodcut, and has been building imaginary architectures ever since.
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Balkrishna Doshi, has been formally presented, on June 15, with the 2022 Royal Gold Medal for Architecture by RIBA President, Simon Allford. Granted by the Royal Institute of British Architects, on behalf of Her Majesty the Queen, the annual award is “given to a person or group of people who have had a significant influence either directly or indirectly on the advancement of architecture”.
A principal figure in shaping the architecture of India and its adjacent regions, known especially for his visionary urban planning and social housing projects, Balkrishna Doshi has “combined pioneering modernism with vernacular”, while his buildings have been “informed by a deep appreciation of the traditions of India’s architecture, climate, local culture and craft”. With a 70-year career, over 100 built projects and his work in education, he became internationally recognized for his contributions to the architectural scene. Still practicing at 90, he “remains as prolific as he is inspirational”, states the 2022 RIBA Honours Committee.
Metropolis Magazine's Kenneth Caldwell visits the Eames Ranch in Petaluma, California to unpack the goals and secrets of the Eames Institute of Infinite Curiosity. He explains that he may not be the best person to write objectively about the recent public launch of the Eames Institute of Infinite Curiosity, a non-profit formed in 2019 to help us explore Charles and Ray Eames’ legacy; particularly their timeless, iterative design process; the chair he sits in every day was designed by the Eameses the year he was born, and their work has been part of his life since he was a young boy looking for the future in architecture magazines at the local public library.
An interactive showcase of design from around the world. This is how EXPERIENCE VALENCIA is presented, the international festival that will bring to Valencia the first design figures from the 13th to the 18th of June. In this very year, in which Valencia is the World Capital of Design, the city puts within the reach of all citizens privileged access to a unique event about design and its transformative power.
Built environments are a reflection of the social order and dynamic ideals of society. Neighborhoods and cities are cultural relics shaped by diverse communities, some of whose voices are heard louder than others. In the past few decades, Indian metropolitans have been booming with urbanization. Holding cities back from being Utopian hubs of growth is spatial inequality. The residential segregation that patterns the cities of India can be understood through the caste system. The issue, however, is largely intersectional. Forces rooted in class, religion, and gender also structure the country's social landscape.
Michele De Lucchi, Kengo Kuma, Eduardo Souto De Moura, and Stefano Boeri: these are just some of the names of the great Masters of Architecture whose interventions are juxtaposed to the installation of Anna Collatuzzo, Arezoo Mohebpour, and Paula Strieder, three Alumni of YACademy who designed The Journey in collaboration with the studio of Mario Cucinella.
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Miriam van der Lubbe, Creative Head of Dutch Design Week 2022 has announced during a live Q&A on Instagram with designer Pete Fung the theme of this year's edition. Titled Get Set, the theme highlights a shift in mentality - from preparation to action, that is deeply rooted in the idea of listening closely to the design community. The event will take place from October 22-30, 2022 in Eindhoven, and will help designers exchange ideas and solutions that create a meaningful impact.
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“And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, where He placed the man He had formed. Out of the ground the Lord God gave growth to every tree that is pleasing to the eye and good for food.”
This is how the Garden of Eden is portrayed in the first book of the bible, Genesis, which describes the origin of the universe and the heavenly place where Adam and Eve were placed. Such a paradise, despite being little characterized in the original words, has been inhabiting the imagination of the faithful and other enthusiasts of the matter for centuries. The scenes of this idyllic place, reinforced by the paintings and sculptures created over time, present a landscape considered ideal, an Edenic nature, expressed many times by the vibrant and contourless color – just like a painting by Monet –, probably emphasizing the representation of the spiritual world, where the image is seen through the contrast of colors, shadows and lights.
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Stand Up for the Seas! is an installation designed by Rozana Montiel Architecture Studio for the exhibition Terre! Land in Sight of the Cité de l'architecture et du patrimoine in the framework of the 2nd Edition of the Biennale d'Architecture et du Paysage d'Île-de-France (Bap, 2022) in Versailles. The piece is made of recycled materials (steel, nets and soil) and invites you to walk inside a seine fishing net to experience what it feels like to be trapped. Stand Up for the Seas! is presented as a stand against the conflict of pollution of the seas.
An online search away from any computer are eye-level views of many of the world’s cities. This technology is powerful – allowing people to have an in-depth look at the cities they might one day visit, live in, or work in. It’s a useful tool for understanding buildings on a more comprehensive level than photographs. This technology is, of course, Google Street View – which recently turned fifteen years old.
As humanity becomes aware of its impact on the environment, it has also sought ways to reverse some of the harm caused to fauna and flora, especially in cities. Our way of living, consumption and construction has caused severe damage to nature. In fact, according to a study from the Weizmann Institute of Science, we are at a point of inflection where the mass of all man-made materials is equal to the planet's biomass, and it should double by 2040. But not necessarily everything we build should have a negative impact. "The Tidal Stool" project is an example of this - part of a comprehensive revitalization project in Kuk Po Village in Shau Tau Kok in Hong Kong, which brings together two different ecologies, the anthropocentric and natural environment.
.jpg?1655422503 "Herman Hertzberger - Centraal Beheer offices, Apeldoorn (1968-1972). Image via AHH, used under terms of \"fair use\"")
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.jpg?1654104708 "© Roland Halbe")
.jpg?1654104468 "Bonpland 2169 Building by Adamo-Faiden Buenos Aires, Argentina. Image © Javier Agustín Rojas")
.jpg?1654104406 "Damero Building by Francisco Cadau Oficina de Arquitectura, Campana, Argentina. Image © Gustavo Sosa Pinilla")
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_Vinay_Panjwani_-_Vastushilpa_Foundation.jpg?1655286453 "Shreyas Comprehensive School Campus, Ahmedabad, India. Image © Vinay Panjwani")
_Vastushilpa_Foundation.jpg?1655286477 "Life Insurance Corporation Mixed Income Housing, Ahmedabad, India. Image Courtesy of Vastushilpa Foundation")
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