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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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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Text Courtesy of Reutov Design. Among the endless movement of millions of people and cars, you often want to get in touch with nature. Here is an oasis in the midst of a raging stream. The concept of the cafe, developed by ReutovDesign studio, combines a creative interpretation of modern design and natural style.

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For the first time in the Venice Architecture Biennale, the island nation of Grenada presents the exhibition COethos, featuring its newest architectural landmark, Grenada's House of Parliament, together with a number of ideas for regenerating the city of St. George's. Curated by the Babau Bureau collective, the pavilion showcases the design and building process of the Parliament building, as well as explorations of the various possibilities of re-activating public spaces along the town's harbour.

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Reflecting on the future of shopping centres and addressing their decline in visitors, MVRDV's Heuvelkwartier design proposes converting Eindhoven's Heuvel shopping venue into a green cultural quarter. The project brings together retail, culture and recreation, expanding the existing buildings while transforming the roofs into a park. The proposal also expands the Muziekgebouw with a stacked cultural building encased in a "glass mountain", creating a new landmark for Heuvel.

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“Abandonment Copies” is a research project created between 2016 and 2018 by artist Sandra Calvo consisting of a film, archives, drawings, interviews, and a video display which was exhibited in the Mexican pavilion during the 2021 Biennial of Venice. The project highlights architecture as a reflection of the migration process between Mexico and the United States, comparing and contrasting the houses where migrants work in the US and the ones they build in Mexico with the remittances they send.

Matt Hickman reports on San Francisco's latest inclusive memorial, for the Architect's Newspaper, designed by SWA, a firm that operates two Bay Area studios (San Francisco and Sausalito) as well as offices in Texas, Southern California, New York City, and Shanghai. Selected by FHMP from a shortlist of four firms that submitted proposals, out of 17 invited offices, SWA shared their winning conceptual design for the memorial at Harvey Milk Plaza.

Videos

One of the biggest names in Brazilian and worldwide architecture, Paulo Mendes da Rocha, passed away at the age of 92. As his son Pedro Mendes da Rocha reported to ArchDaily, the architect was hospitalized in São Paulo due to lung cancer and passed away at dawn on Sunday, May 23, 2021.

Paulo Mendes da Rocha will be remembered for the great formative role he had. His architectural creation debated life above all, raising questions and challenging ready ideas and conformity. He consolidated an influence short of language or aesthetics, formed mainly by the way of acting and thinking, in which each project was an opportunity for transformation. His ideas and designs overflowed the limits of the program, place and materiality, always bringing a new point of view to achieve revolutionary simplicity.

Videos

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 are joined by Architect Toshiko Mori to discuss her moving from Japan to New York City at a young age, attending The Cooper Union for Art and Architecture, starting her own practice and VisionArc, witnessing the 9/11 attack, her design process, creating a temporary concert hall, and more.

This video uses the architect character from the movie Indecent Proposal — named David Murphy and played by Woody Harrelson — to offer professional practice tips. David Murphy engages in a series of risky business practices and repeatedly makes decisions that lead to glaring firm mismanagement. However, his most egregious oversight, and the real ‘indecent proposal’ is meeting a billionaire without cultivating him as a client. This error in judgement leads the wealthy businessman, played by Robert Redford, to purchase Murphy’s design right out from under him. In addition to the practical lessons for avoiding these pitfalls, the video also offers a character analysis that breaks down fundamental principles of Deconstructivist Architecture and other architectural references from the movie.

Not-for-profit Zuecca Projects and Coldefy have shared new research for Tropicalia, the largest single-dome greenhouse on the planet, for the 17th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia. Presenting tropical fauna and flora, the team is also sharing the architectural and engineering specificities of the Tropicalia greenhouse with its unique sustainable air treatment engineering.