International School. Image Courtesy of CUBE Consultants
This week’s curated selection of Best Unbuilt Architecture highlights educational architecture submitted by the ArchDaily community. From preschools to higher education institutes, this article explores how architects shifted towards fostering individual creativity, critical thinking, and exploration, and presents projects submitted to us from all over the world.
Featuring a secluded kindergarten in the Icelandic mountains, a vibrantly-colored playschool in the industrial city of Shenzhen, and a Florentine high school with a flow of natural sunlight, this round-up explores how architects prioritize student well being and comfort in spaces that promote productivity, learning, and creativity. The selection also includes preschools, high schools, and academies in France, United States, Egypt, Kazakhstan, and Israel.
In May, aec+tech hosted an event on Clubhouse discussing how architects are using generative design in architecture firms today and towards the future. Five guest speakers from reputable architecture and tech start-ups —Zaha Hadid Architects, BIG, Outer Labs, 7fold, and RK Architects— joined the session to share their experiences and insights.
ArchDaily, Strelka Institute, and Strelka KB announce the second edition of their jointly curated award and are accepting applications from the territories of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. Submit your project by August 8th.
Business planning is similar to creating design iterations and drafting drawings before starting construction, in the sense that it is the blueprint for a firm's future success. Having a strategic plan provides a basis to evaluate what is happening in real-time against what was expected, make adjustments as necessary, and have a guide to help make better business decisions. Without a plan, how can you coordinate all of the elements and timing required to achieve the desired result? How can you navigate an unpredictable business environment?
Let's review how the business plan with a whole-systems approach can guide us to successful results, as developed by Charrette Venture Group (CVG).
Designer and art director Serena Confalonieri, along with a team of students and volunteers have created “Quadra”, a graphic installation that is part of the initiative “Piazze Aperte” promoted by the Municipality of Milan. The urban intervention is a graphic art project in a former parking lot in the Quarto Oggiaro district that aims to enhance and characterize tactical urban interventions in all cities.
Curtains can provide a freer and more dynamic flow in architecture. These elements are usually intended to protect the interior from sunlight or create visual privacy, but they are also used as decoration or as room dividers. Since they are very movable and flexible, curtains are becoming a popular choice for architects and interior designers, creating layers between interior and exterior spaces that transform the environment through light and shade. Here, we have gathered some examples of projects that use curtains, particularly in the facades, showing how this solution can affect the overall impression of the design.
Courtesy of CHYBIK + KRISTOF Architects & Urban Designers
CHYBIK + KRISTOF architects & urban designers and DÍLNA have created a new design for Brno's historic Mendel Square. Part of a large revival plan for the city, the design pays homage to the city's rich cultural past. Partnering with local practice DÍLNA, landscape architect Zdenek Sendler, and engineering firm PK Ossendorf, the team exposed the square’s core functional and historic role to drive change in the urban fabric.
Four emerging architecture studio profiles from Switzerland, Germany, and Spain have been chosen by New Generations, a European platform that analyses the most innovative emerging practices at the European level, providing a new space for the exchange of knowledge and confrontation, theory, and production. Since 2013, New Generations has involved more than 500 practices in a diverse program of cultural activities, such as festivals, exhibitions, open calls, video interviews, workshops, and experimental formats.
CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati and Italo Rota have designed the new MAE museum dedicated to carbon fiber. Made of the same material, the museum is designed to showcase its ecological potential. As a material that is central to the future of manufacturing, the project will be built largely out of carbon fiber, both new and recycled, pursuing a circular approach to design.
Although disability laws have been put in place decades ago, architects are still struggling with disability requirements. A recent article by CityLab explored how the rise of speed and efficiency-driven cities have overlooked accessibility, neglecting the needs of people who are physically unable to live or keep up with these dense neighborhoods. And while the "15-Minute City", one that allows people to walk or bike to most essential services within 15 minutes of their home, may seem as the future of built environments, it does not cater to disabled individuals or their movements.
With three more years to go until the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics and the re-opening date announced by French President Emanuel Macron, Notre Dame's restoration work progresses. After a long safety phase and months of work interruption last year due to the pandemic, all burned timber from the roof has been removed, and scaffolding has been installed inside the cathedral. As a homage to the heritage structure and "the collective effort to rebuild Notre Dame", the Catholic University of America is building a replica of one of the cathedral's roof trusses in Washington D.C., using medieval techniques.
Rumor had it that behind the walls of historic subway station Cal y Canto in Santiago de Chile, a hidden ghost station would eventually link to Line 3—a planned route that was part of the original Metro master plan designed in the 60s. Its construction would have been shelved after the magnitude-7.8 1985 earthquake that forced public resources to be redirected for the reconstruction of the Chilean central valley.
34 years later, the Cal y Canto Metro station finally opened its connection with Line 3, the most recent addition to the rapid transit system, thus becoming the seventh line of Santiago after lines 1, 2, 4, 4A, 5, and 6.
Recent extreme weather events and the acceleration of climate change, paired with decarbonization efforts that are not on track, make climate-related disruption unavoidable for urban environments, raising the issue of climate-risk adaptation. Moving past what can be done to prevent climate change, there is a strong imperative to develop strategies to prepare urban environments to cope with inevitable challenges such as sea-level rise, floods, water scarcity or extreme heat. The following discusses how cities can build resilience and adapt to undergoing and expected future climate threats.
The Hilda L. Solis Care First Village (HSCFV), a large-scale interim housing project providing a wide range of amenities for both the unhoused and those in transition, recently opened in Downtown Los Angeles.
When we think of migration, we think of movement. We think of the movement of people simply looking for greener pastures – a better life for themselves. But we also think of war, of conflict, of an unstable situation in a specific place forcing the hand of a location’s residents to seek safety elsewhere. Historically and into present day, war has been the reason for the increased presence of refugees. Instability in places such as Syria, Iraq, or the Central African Republic have caused millions to flee their homes. Lurking amongst this migration due to conflict, however, is the migration of people at mercy of the changing environmental conditions of the Earth – climate migration.
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 discuss the different reasons for hiring an architect and establishing a good client-architect relationship: The pros and cons of hiring an interior designer or contractor instead of an architect, design-build services, the difference between drafting and designing, whether or not a licensed architect is needed for certain projects, common fee structures, finding the right architect and what to look for in an architect, why the client and architect relationship is important to the project, and common problems that occur when the right architect is not hired and tips for avoiding them.
https://www.archdaily.com/965936/the-second-studio-podcast-on-why-hire-an-architectThe Second Studio Podcast
Ronald McDonald House of British Columbia . Image Courtesy of reSITE
In a Design and the City episode - a podcast by reSITE on how to make cities more liveable - Vancouver-based architects Michael Green and Natalie Telewiak advocate for more sustainable building on Earth, with a special mention for one of their preferred materials - wood. The interview sees the two architects balance the benefits and disadvantages of mass timber construction, which they are a strong proponent of as evidenced by their project T3, a LEED Gold Certified, seven-story timber office building in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
The Resor House was a hugely pivotal project for Mies van der Rohe, in both his life, and his career. It was his first commission in the United States and prior to landing in Chicago, he lived for two months on the site of the house near Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Its design was unique for Mies in its rural landscape setting and material choices, mainly its wood-clad exterior and interior. While it was never constructed due to cost overruns, the design documents and working models were collected by MoMA in NY, where the client, Helen Resor was on the Board of Directors. This video traces a digital reconstruction of the house — using those archival documents — to serve as the subject of an in-depth tour and analysis. What sorts of discoveries are to be found inside this unbuilt masterpiece?
Architecture is perhaps the most expressive forms of culture, representing the zeitgeist of a particular location, and telling the story of how it evolved over time. It allows visitors to transport themselves back in history to understand the influences that shaped the world we once lived in. Baroque architecture, in particular, was one of the most ornamental and decorative architectural styles. Translating to “curious or strange” in French, it was once used as a derogatory word, meaning noisy, eccentric, and excessive- and Baroque architecture was truly just that.
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) unveiled its design for the New York City Public Health Laboratory, a ten storey building meant to strengthen the metropole's capability to respond to a variety of public health issues and future challenges. The laboratory is organized within a cubic glass volume stepping outward, which rises from a masonry-clad podium containing community-related functions. In order to give the new facility an active role within the Harlem neighbourhood, the design incorporates a training lab and an auditorium available to the community.
Plan B Guatemala / DEOC Arquitectos. Image Cortesía de DEOC Arquitectos
"Here in the tropics, it's the shade not the stove that refreshes and brings people together," says Bruno Stagno about tropical architecture.
Guatemala ha estado construyendo su sombra a lo largo de los años. Nos encontramos con 3 ejemplos que proponen interesantes respuestas a este clima. Proyectos que materializan tanto grandes cubiertas con pendientes para dar sombra y evacuar el agua de lluvia con rapidez, como fachadas perforadas que permiten el ingreso de la brisa y la ventilación interior.
ZAV Architects, Majara Residency, Hormuz island, Iran. Image Courtesy of WAF
Some of the best architecture by today’s foremost practices is revealed as the World Architecture Festival (WAF) Awards announces its 2021 shortlist, celebrating buildings and landscapes to have been completed across the world between 2019 and 2021. The 200-strong shortlist has been selected from over 700 entries from countries ranging from China and Japan to Mexico and Ecuador.
Jeffry Burchard explores in his essay the "opportunity found by extending the life and purpose of viable existing buildings", that have shaped our cities. Arguing that "we have an abundant supply of buildings", the author proposes four essential steps to transform existing buildings.
