This article was originally published on Common Edge.
Martin Pederson interviewed this week Antonis Antoniou and Steven Heller, author of Decoding Manhattan, a new book that compiles over 250 architectural maps, diagrams, and graphics of the island of Manhattan in New York City, talking about the origin story of the book, the process of research, and the collaboration.
Praksis Arkitekter has won the competition to transform an old timber warehouse for VELUX Group in Østbirk, Denmark. As the company's largest production site, it will be transformed into a best-in-class innovation center. The existing wooden building was originally inaugurated in 1995 as a warehouse. The new rebuilt building will house most of the product development that VELUX Group is doing, which today is spread across the country and abroad.
The prominent Brazilian urbanist Jaime Lerner has passed away this Thursday, May 27, at the age of 83. Trained as an architect, Lerner was chosen by the American magazine Planetizen as the second most influential urban planner of all time, only behind Jane Jacobs. In addition to his career linked to architecture and urban planning, Lerner was three times mayor of Curitiba and twice governor of Paraná (1995-1998 and 1999-2002). Lerner graduated in Architecture in 1964 from the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR) and worked at the Curitiba Institute for Research and Urbanism (Ippuc) since its creation in 1965.
India is rethinking the future of housing through new typologies. Defined by historical and cultural influences, the country's contemporary architecture centers on discussions of how best to modernize. Built over millennia, India's housing projects are made to address diverse scales, programs and functions. Exploring a revitalized urban landscape, these modern housing projects have begun to set a new tone for the future.
Titled "In Muharraq", the Bahrain Pavilion at the 17th International Architecture Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia, explores the city's architectural and urban heritage, regeneration, and conservation. Curated by Noura Al Sayeh and Ghassan Chemali, the pavilion will be on display at the Arsenale from May 22nd until November 21st, 2021.
Earlier this month, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the launch of the Open Boulevards program, an initiative that would temporarily close off car traffic on boulevard segments across several blocks, expanding the public space for dining, cultural activities and artistic performances. The project builds on the successful initiatives Open streets and Open Restaurants, which transformed the city’s streetscape to better serve diners, cyclists and pedestrians amidst the pandemic.
The terms space and place are often used interchangeably, but they can mean different things depending on the context in which they are used. Placemaking shows that the creation of places transcends the material dimension and involves aspects such as sociability, uses, activities, access, connections, comfort, and image, to create bonds between people and a sense of place.
The massive new hub for lab research, by Behnisch Architekten, marks a new chapter of sustainable construction and campus planning. James McCown explores in his article originally published on Metropolis, Harvard's latest addition in the Boston campus, the new Science and Engineering Complex (SEC) designed by German-based firm Behnisch Architekten and centered on sustainability and well-being.
Olson Kundig has unveiled the design of 760 Ralph McGill Boulevard, a new mixed-use high-rise development situated along Atlanta’s BeltLine. Led by project developer New City, LLC, the 1.1 million-square-foot structure will include office and retail spaces organized around a central plaza. The project expands local civic and cultural amenities, and introduces a new flexible and functional workplace that also serves the surrounding community.
Designed by Heatherwick Studio, together with landscape architecture firm MNLA, the long-awaited Little Island project is New York’s newest major public space, showcasing a richly-planted piece of topography above the Hudson River. The design featuring a public park and performance venues reinvents the pier typology into an undulating artificial landscape. After surpassing many hurdles, the eight years in the making project is now open to the public, and the bold design is set to become an icon in New York.
After being shut down for more than a year, museums across the world are beginning to show signs of reopening. Most architecture and design events that were scheduled for 2020 have been pushed a year or two, depending on the severity of the pandemic in their respective regions. But while museums are open to the public once again, administrators have installed numerous precaution measures to ensure the safety of visitors and curators, and to avoid potential re-closures.
As international travels have been revived by government officials, and tourism is expected to recover gradually, read on to discover 18 museums and exhibitions that have begun welcoming visitors into their exhibition spaces as of May 2021, and the procedures required from the attendees before and during visitations.
Popularly known as the lotus, the aquatic species Nelumbo nucifera has a useful particularity. Its leaves are self-cleaning, or ultra-hydrophobic. This means that no particles of dirt or water adhere to its leaf, which is especially useful in the humid and muddy environments where the plant typically grows. However, this effect does not derive from a perfectly smooth surface or a resinous layer on the leaves. The lotus is, in fact, full of tiny folds that reduce the area of the contact surface and repel all the particles that try to adhere there. The lotus effect has been studied by nanotechnologists in order to apply this same effect to products, such as surfaces, paints, fabrics, and tiles that can easily clean themselves. As trivial as this may seem, when we think of the resources applied to cleaning skyscraper glass or even of the reduction in photovoltaic energy generation due to dust on solar panels, we can get a sense of the infinite possibilities that hydrophobic surfaces could represent.
Nature, over billions of years, has developed adaptive solutions that are beginning to be understood by us with new technologies applied to the needs of areas such as the construction industry. When professionals such as scientists, biologists, engineers, architects, and others join forces and focus on understanding aspects of nature, with an empathetic and respectful view, the results can be impressive.
Titled "The Blessed Fragments", the Egyptian Pavilion at the 17th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, sheds the light on local Egyptian laborers and their value to the community, in a space designed with optical illusion fragments. Curated by Algorithm Architecture's Mostafa Rabea Abdelbaset, Mohamad Riad Alhalaby, Amr Allam, and Ahmed Essam, the pavilion will be on display at the Giardini from May 22nd until November 21st, 2021.
Located in Denmark’s Lolland-Falster region, Henning Larsen's New School in Sundby marked the commencement of a historic project for the country's sustainable educational-facility architecture. The primary school is set to be the largest construction project in Guldborgsund Municipality that ensures high sustainability parameters and community engagement. The school is expected to open its doors at the end of summer 2022, welcoming over 580 students in a nature-oriented premises.
The Kuwait Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2021 tackles notions of discovery, interpretation, and projection of the hinterland, contextualizing the nation’s imminent growth. The exhibition titled Space Wars and curated by curators Asaiel Al Saeed, Aseel AlYaqoub, Saphiya Abu Al-Maati, and Yousef Awaad brings the hinterland within the architectural discourse, highlighting the nation’s functional staging ground.
Bjarke Ingels Group has unveiled the final design for Västerås Travel Center, a transport infrastructure hub bringing together multiple travel modes within one cohesive architectural object. The project's defining feature is a light, undulating roofscape unfolding across the various complex elements of the program that make up the urban node, creating a new landmark for one of Sweden's largest cities.
Whether made from natural or synthetic fibers, textiles have played a part in architectural design since time immemorial; however, it wasn't until the era of industrialization and advancements in technology that high-quality textiles could be made and utilized en masse. Most often, they have been used to enclose temporary structures like medical tents and emergency housing thanks to their mobility and ease of assembly.
Architects from around the world are designing hotels that are sustainable and mindful of their ecological footprint, seeking to connect their guests more closely to nature. We are talking about a deep understanding that seeks to truly harmonize the environment of the place with the architecture to create a forgotten closeness to nature for urban guests.
Almost 80% of South America is tropical land. In Peru, close to two-thirds is covered by the Amazon rainforest, more than in any other country. These landscape conditions give rise to unique living conditions, and in turn, shape Peru’s contemporary architecture. Today, new homes are built to embrace nature and create space for everyday life.
The 2021 Venice Architecture Biennale finally opened its doors to the public, on May 22nd, despite all odds and after two postponements. Presenting 115 different responses to “How will we live together”, the architectural exhibition gathered innovative answers from across the globe, all arising from a common determination to change the status quo. Bringing people who face the same issues together to partake in a vital exchange of ideas, the 17th edition has amplified the role and status of the Biennale as the biggest platform for architecture.
Onsite, in Venice, ArchDaily had the chance to meet with curator Hashim Sarkis, to discuss once more the ever-growing relevance of the biennale, different overlapping scales and fields, recurring qualities, and the international language of architecture. Hoping that “people will walk out of the biennale with a stronger belief in architecture as being a medium that can make a difference”, Sarkis in his third interview talks of a collective imaginary that can inspire new spatial contracts.
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Titled "Structures of Mutual Support", the Philippines Pavilion at the 17th International Architecture Exhibition - La Biennale Di Venezia, explores how the principles of mutual support can shape architecture. Curated by Framework Collaborative (members of GK Enchanted Farm and Architects Sudarshan Khadka, Jr. and Alexander Eriksson Furunes), the pavilion will be on display at the Arsenale from May 22nd until November 21st, 2021.
Following China's rapid urbanization and emergence of new districts and public buildings, MAD Architects, led by Ma Yansong, has won an international competition to design the new Zhuhai Cultural Arts Center. Their proposal, titled "Village Under the Dome", will be situated within China’s Pearl River Delta in the Yinkeng Village, a historic town that has recently been demolished and relocated by the municipality to make room for new projects. Instead of rebuilding over the demolition, their design offered a conservation and renewal of the village, creating a new function of the original site.
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