Russia’s invasion of Ukraine unleashed a major humanitarian and refugee crisis, with 4.2 million people fleeing into neighbouring countries and 6.5 displaced internally. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), 18 million people are projected to become affected in the near future with the current scale and direction of the ongoing military violence. In addition to the threat to human lives, Ukraine’s culture is also at risk, as cities and historic buildings are being destroyed. In March, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has expressed concern over the damage caused to historic landmarks in Ukraine and called for the protection of its cultural heritage. The following are some of Ukraine’s most prominent architectural landmarks, which are now in danger of being destroyed amid the conflict.
PVC, as the synthetic material Polyvinyl Chloride is called, or Polyvinyl Chloride, is one of the most produced plastics in the world, reaching 40 million tons per year. Its application is quite varied and in construction it has found different branches, serving both as an input for infrastructure and for finishing.
15-minute cities are a trending urban planning topic that has long been discussed academically and is now slowly being implemented across existing cities in Europe. But now, the first 15-minute city is being designed and built from scratch in Utah. Dubbed “The Point”, the new 600-acre city will be located just outside Salt Lake City, and will be a redeveloped former state prison site where new jobs, housing, public spaces, amenities, and transportation will serve almost 15,000 people in an attempt to explore a prototype for how innovative urban planning concepts can improve the public health and wellness.
Daniel Libeskind (b. 1946, Lodz, Poland) studied architecture at Cooper Union in New York, graduating in 1970, and received his post-graduate degree from Essex University in England in 1972. While pursuing a teaching career he won the 1989 international competition to design the Jewish Museum in Berlin before ever realizing a single building. He then moved his family there to establish a practice with his wife Nina and devoted the next decade to the completion of the museum that opened in 2001. The project led to a series of other museum commissions that explored such notions as memory and history in architecture.
Unilin’s new carefully curated range includes 222 different finishes. The colour choice is honed to contemporary tastes, while matt textures become all important in the mix. Image Courtesy of Unilin
New Unilin Panels designs include the colour-stable and textured matt Master Oak finish – a decorative option the brand says is better than the real thing.
Graphics, even before language and writing, were the first means of communication and significance for humanity. Drawing is the act of replacing reality with representation, that is, replacing objects with images encoded in each of the graphic representation systems.
In architecture, graphics stimulate the imagination and are the basis of project thinking since they do not only constitute our code of communication but configure our ability to express ourselves in disciplinary terms. In fact, at first, the drawing is constructed in the mind of the architect, before it looks for support from any type of instrument.
Following months of uncertainties and preservation attempts, Kisho Kurokawa's iconic Nakagin Capsule Tower will be demolished on April 12th of this year. Tatsuyuki Maeda, one of the current owners of the tower, explained that a team will try to preserve some of the capsules, and regenerate them as accommodation units and museum installations across the world.
The Eames Institute of Infinite Curiosity is a new non-profit organization that aims to bring forward the design processes and problem-solving approaches of the two renowned designers with the purpose of equipping a new generation of creatives with the tools for tackling today's challenges. Through archival exhibitions, storytelling, and other programming, the institution will demonstrate the Eameses' iterative process and highlight the lessons to be passed on from their methodology, making a vast collection of objects, prototypes, and personal archives available to the public.
A call that comes from the cradle, creativity, the act of transforming ideas into materials, are some of the words to introduce Nitsche Arquitetos, which in its practice remains in a constant reinvention from the questions that are posed about space and life. Daughter and sons of artists Marcello Nitsche and Carmela Gross, siblings Lua Nitsche, Pedro Nitsche and João Nitsche founded the office that works on two fronts: architectural projects – headed by Lua and Pedro, architects trained at FAUUSP in 1996 and 2000, respectively – and works of art and visual communication – led by João, a visual artist who graduated from FAAP in 2002.
In January 2022, the world of architecture lost one of its greatest influences of modern times, the Catalan architect Ricardo Bofill. However, just two months before his departure, Bofill left us with a new vision: an independent villa inspired by a classical temple that sits on a single plot within the Palmares Ocean Living & Golf complex. Today, a new opportunity presents itself to bring one of his final designs to life.
Still from 'Spirited Away' (2001). Image Courtesy of Studio Ghibli
Writers in film and animation, specifically pertaining to the genre of anime, endeavor to incorporate varied architectural backdrops to assist them in telling their stories, with influences ranging from medieval villages to futuristic metropolises. Architecture as a subject includes a wide array of elements to study, with each architectural era further inferring its context and history through its design alone. However, in film and anime, all of the contexts behind a building’s design can be condensed into a single frame, powerful enough to tell a thousand stories.
As the world spins deeper into the third year of a global pandemic with no sign of abating, a new space race is forming over our heads. Entry is open to all, and the tickets are literal. The Architect's Newspaper's Jonathan Hilburg explores how the world's richest men are charting new paths for the human species, and how the public are reacting to the future of private space tourism.
Few structures are as elegant and ingenious as greenhouses. Largely built with simple and straightforward designs, these minimalist shelters create airy and light-filled spaces that shape indoor climate. Dedicated to the cultivation of plants and crops, they are diverse projects combining programs and systems to emphasize sustainability, education and conservation. At their heart, greenhouses are about experience and discovery.
The Second Studio (formerly The Midnight Charette) is an explicit podcast about design, architecture, and the everyday. Hosted by Architects David Lee and Marina Bourderonnet, it features different creative professionals in unscripted conversations that allow for thoughtful takes and personal discussions.
A variety of subjects are covered with honesty and humor: some episodes are interviews, while others are tips for fellow designers, reviews of buildings and other projects, or casual explorations of everyday life and design. The Second Studio is also available on iTunes, Spotify, and YouTube.
This week David and Marina answer the question, “Should I go to architecture school?” The two cover the relevancy of college/university, the architecture school experience, if studying architecture is needed to practice architecture, if having a degree helps with getting a job, preparing for architecture school, choosing the right degree, the cost of architecture school, and more.
https://www.archdaily.com/979573/the-second-studio-podcast-should-i-go-to-architecture-schoolThe Second Studio Podcast
This week's curated selection of Best Unbuilt Architecture highlights designs submitted by established architecture practices, featuring conceptual works, competition entries and projects in different stages of development. From the transformation of a former mall into a healthcare facility in the United States, a masterplan for the redevelopment of a zoo in Canada to a brewery regeneration in China, the following explores a variety of designs by global architecture offices.
Featuring firms like Perkins +Will, Henning Larsen Architects, URBANUS or Mandaworks, this week's selection of unbuilt projects highlights worldwide interventions that illustrate a variety of ideas, from adaptive-reuse strategies, interventions in heritage sites and new models for public buildings.
Pricing architectural project work is a complex issue that is not usually addressed during one's formative school years, and it usually takes time for professionals to develop a good system that works for them and their clients. Issues such as scope of work, hours worked, project area and project complexity will influence the final cost of a job. In addition, another thing that can keep project professionals awake at night is how to charge clients in a way that is sustainable for the business and comfortable for future users of the designed space.
PLP Architecture has unveiled plans for Tokyo Cross Park, an upcoming redevelopment of an entire district set to become the largest development site in the metropolitan area of Tokyo. The new 230-hectare "green heart of the city" will include four towers, two of which to be designed by PLP, a 31-metre-tall podium with an elevated green public realm, and a 2-hectare public plaza.
New images have been released by Studio Gang showcasing the construction progress of the firm's American Museum of Natural History Expansion in New York. Dubbed as the Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation, the project will link together 10 museum buildings, improving circulation and creating one monumental campus of exhibition galleries, state-of-the-art classrooms, an immersive digital theater, and a redesigned library.
One of the first elements used by humans to build shelters, wood is a versatile material that, along with technological advances, remains a protagonist in the construction industry, being used in different ways and moments in a work.
The immensity of China leads to the diversity of customs and climatic conditions. Each area has its own unique materials, construction methods, and climate adaptation measures. The regional characteristics of Chinese architecture are generally preserved in rural buildings. But we cannot overlook how contemporary technology may considerably improve the living and use conditions of rural buildings. What is the best way to create a balance between classic or inherent technology and new ones? How would the construction of rural architecture provide inspiration for the development of Chinese architectural cultural symbols?
2022 Pritzker Architecture Prize winner Diébédo Francis Kéré reported the great solutions of Burkina Faso. Kéré insists to build comfortable buildings at a reasonable price; to make users happy and inspire them to dream of a better life. The pride of the local culture is reinforced by the use of local materials and traditional techniques. And then Kéré‘s works in other countries show cultural emblems of Burkina Faso, which are the consequence of his own cultural accumulation.
Compared to that of the West and East, awareness and knowledge of the architecture of sub-Saharan Africa—Africa south of the Sahara Desert—is scant. A new book intends to mitigate this oversight, and it’s a significant accomplishment. Architectural Guide Sub-Saharan Africa (DOM publishers, 2021), edited by Philipp Meuser, Adil Dalbai, and Livingstone Mukasa, was more than six years in the making. The seven-volume guide presents architecture in the continent’s 49 sub-Saharan nation-states, includes contributions by nearly 340 authors, 5,000 photos, more than 850 buildings, and 49 articles expressly devoted to theorizing African architecture in its social, economic, historical, and cultural context. I interviewed two of the editors—Adil Dalbai, an architectural researcher and practitioner specializing in sub-Saharan Africa, and Livingstone Mukasa, a native Ugandan architect interested in the intersections of architectural history and cultural anthropology—about the challenges of creating the guide, some of its revelations about the architecture of Africa, and its potential impact.
https://www.archdaily.com/979526/a-remarkably-comprehensive-new-guide-to-the-architecture-of-sub-saharan-africaMichael J. Crosbie
Grounded by the COVID-19 pandemic, the hospitality sector is re-grouping and looking for fresh ideas and stories. Image Courtesy of HD Expo + Conference
As the hospitality sector begins to reemerge after the global pandemic, fresh thinking, new strategies and innovation will be key – and all on show at HD Expo + Conference in Las Vegas, 26 to 28 April.
The Transamerica Pyramid, a landmark in the skyline of San Francisco, is undergoing a revitalization project led by Foster + Partners and luxury real estate developers SHVO. Built in 1972, the 48-story Brutalist-style project was designed by American architect William Pereira, and was the tallest building in San Francisco for nearly half a century. The renovation will be the largest in the building’s 50-year history, will also see the expansion and upgrade of the adjacent Three Transamerica (545 Sansome).
During the past two years spent photographing Expo 2020 Dubai, I was often asked by friends what exactly it was. To align with its closure on the 31st of March, I would like to address that question from two angles. Most readers will be aware that the expo is part of a tradition dating back to the 19th century - a Showcase for companies and countries, a tourist attraction, a testing ground for technical innovation. But it is also a collection of paradigm studies on opportunity, sustainability, and mobility, as well as a lucrative building project creating a new neighbourhood in the Emirates and a future means of dwelling. Perhaps this last frame of reference is the most interesting for it is what most distinguishes this expo from others.
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