The winners of the competition for the reform of the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art (MACBA) have just been announced.HARQUITECTES with Christ & Gantenbein have been selected to rethink and expand the exhibition areas of the original museum, designed by American architect Richard Meier in the 90s.
Designers have created civic institutions, governmental centers, public plazas, and many other spaces as testaments to individual and shared values. As spaces for gathering and exchange are necessary elements to urban life, architecture can also act as a vehicle to encourage understanding. Advocating knowledge while empowering the public, libraries celebrate ideas, curiosity and empathy.
For the 17th international architecture exhibition – la biennale di Venezia 2021, Denmark is creating a water cyclic system that connects people with each other and with nature. The national pavilion, titled “Con-nect-ed-ness”, is curated by Marianne Krogh and Lundgaard & Tranberg Architects, and will be on display from May 22nd to November 21st, 2021.
Ateliers Jean Nouvel's new mixed-use development in the Greater Paris area defines a complex vertical neighbourhood that caters to the latest changes in living, working and leisure. Located in the Gennevilliers Neighbourhood, on the banks of the river Seine, Jeuneville aims to create a sustainable and inspiring living environment, a place of synergy designed for a new generation of city dwellers and a new economy.
Renders are representations that can convey the three-dimensional aspect of a design through two-dimensional media, i.e., an image, providing a preview of how the project will look in the future. However, unlike what people often imagine, rendering is not always a realistic visualization of architecture.
Since it is a tool for visual communication, renderings can have different styles depending not only on the project itself but also on the specific targeted audience and, above all, on the identity of the architect or architectural firm responsible for the design.
According to the United Nations’ latest report on populations in cities, by 2030, “urban areas are projected to house 60 percent of people globally and one in every three people will live in cities with at least half a million inhabitants”. Growing in both size and number, cities are hubs of government, commerce, and transportation, and in 2021, the world’s 20 largest cities are home to half a billion people. In fact, one in five people worldwide lives in a city with more than 1 million inhabitants.
Below, we have rounded up the top 20 megacities in the world of 2021, according to the number of people that live in their metropolitan area. While Tokyo is the largest city on a global level, with a total of more than 37 million residents, the majority of the most populous cities in the world are in the two most populated countries, China and India. Among these, we have 5 metropolises in China, Shanghai, Beijing, Chongqing, Tianjin, and Guangzhou, and 3 in India, Delhi, Mumbai, and Kolkata. The largest city in the American continent is Sao Paulo in Brazil with 22 million people, followed by Mexico City and Buenos Aires in Argentina. Istanbul takes the 13th position with one part of the city lying in Europe and the other part in Asia.
Designed by SPF:architects, the Michelle and Barack Obama Sports Center in Baldwin Hills, Los Angeles, celebrates the center’s rich history and community commitment in an eco-friendly, prefabricated facility. Formerly known as the Rancho Cienega Sports Complex, the center will expand the pre-existing structure and provide additional recreational facilities but in a cost-effective way. Construction has been ongoing since 2018 and is set to be complete mid-summer of 2021.
This year's Shanghai Biennale, themed Bodies of Water, examines the interconnectivity and interdependency of people, climates, ecosystems and technologies, exploring the idea of collectivity in the light of accelerating climate change and the current global pandemic. The 13th edition of the oldest biennial in China features works by 64 participating artists exploring the intricate web of interferences and connections in the contemporary world.
In a 2016 survey of 400 employees in the U.S., Saint-Gobain found that office building occupants commonly complained about poor lighting, temperature, noise, and air quality, leading the company to deduce a need for improved lighting and thermal comfort in buildings while also maintaining low energy consumption and freedom of design for architects and clients. Their solution was SageGlass, an innovative glass created first in 1989 and developed over the course of the past three decades. The glass, which features dynamic glazing protecting from solar heat and glare, simultaneously optimizes natural light intake. A sustainable and aesthetic solution, SageGlass’ adaptability to external conditions dispels the need for shutters or blinds.
Working remotely throughout the past year has accelerated the introduction of new approaches to real-time rendering, and with it, a new necessity was born: how can a person feel physically present inside a space, without actually being there? Ultimately, designers resorted to the virtual world, a vast realm of interactive built environments that can be accessed from the comfort of one's home. Even the tools utilized, such as headsets and goggles, have become more accessible to the vast majority of the public and are being sold at a lower price than they initially were. We have become accustomed to build, modify, and navigate between different environments, going back and forth between what is real and what isn't. Truth is, virtual has become the new normal.
In a time when the world is facing major social and environmental challenges, Oslo Architecture Triennale 2022 spotlights the neighborhood as a place and horizon for rethinking our cities. With the working title Mission Neighborhood – (Re)forming communities, the Triennale will explore how we form the places we share.
The Clark Centre for the Arts is undergoing a revitalization as part of the Guild Park and Gardens in Toronto. Designed by Taylor Hazell Architects, the new multipurpose facility will house art studios and be home to creative programs for residents and visitors. Clark Centre for the Arts (CCA) will offer a public gallery, five specialized art studios and two on-site cabins, providing over 6,000 square feet of new, dedicated studio, exhibition and event space.
.jpg?1618821691&format=webp&width=640&height=429)
Titled "Trouble in Paradise", the Polish pavilion at the 17th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, will explore the countryside and observe how rural areas are an important element of building sustainable human environments, given the crises the world is surrounded with today. Curated by PROLOG +1 along with an international group of architects and artists, the national pavilion will be on physical display at the Giardini di Venezia, and online from May 22nd to November 21st, 2021.
PLP revealed its design for a luxury residential tower in Singapore, featuring a lush vertical garden inspired by the city’s greenery. The biophilic design that blurs the line between indoor living areas and outdoor spaces strives to redefine metropolitan living by promoting health and wellbeing.
Solar design in contemporary architecture is rooted in the profession's sustainable turn. The relationship between architecture and energy is tied to both passive strategies and performance via more recent innovations in technology. As one way to begin addressing the global climate crisis and greenhouse gas emissions, solar design is reshaping cities and architecture around the world.
Many of us have already lived, are living, or will live in a shared student house - a good mix of cheap housing and intense socializing with friends and school mates. For a reasonable price, it is possible to have a single private room and share common spaces. In fact, not only university students are living this way nowadays. The concept of co-living is becoming more and more an attractive and effective solution.
Nestled in the heart of Yuhang District, Bjarke Ingels Group’s design for the new OPPO R&D Headquarters, China’s largest smartphone company, combines aesthetics and innovative technology in a building that will be an environmental, economical, and socially sustainable hub for innovation.
Designed by Studio Gang architects, together with landscape design firm SCAPE and Polk Stanley Wilcox Architects, Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts (AMFA) reaches an important construction milestone with the recent completion of its signature new roof. Spanning the entire length of the project and connecting the various buildings, both renovated and new, the folded plate concrete roof establishes the museum’s new architectural identity as the leading cultural institution for the state of Arkansas.
This week’s curated selection of the Best Unbuilt Architecture focuses on projects related to learning, research and culture submitted by the ArchDaily Community. From kindergartens to libraries and universities, the article explores how different spaces of knowledge around the world are designed to inspire their users.
Featuring an array of scales and architectural programs, the list of projects includes a circular library in South Korea, a bridge-like kindergarten in Poland, as well a university in Tel Aviv that creates a series of opportunities for unmediated interactions and unscripted learning. The following are architectural programs that cater to the dissemination of knowledge in all its forms and to all age and social groups.
Fifty-one years ago, in 1970, a Japanese roboticist named Masahiro Mori came up with the concept of the “Uncanny Valley”. Around the same time, architectural renderings done using analog methods were still in vogue – collages and photomontages used to get ideas across to clients. A decade later, personal computers came along, and that saw the emergence of CAD and the wider adoption of digital rendering. Today’s architectural renderings are almost imperceptible from reality, with the increase in sophistication of rendering sofware. We struggle to tell the difference between what is a rendering and what is not – or rather we are able to tell a slight difference and it leaves us slightly uncomfortable, which brings us to Mori’s uncanny valley.
In Louisiana Channel's latest interview, Indian architect Anupama Kundoo shares her thoughts on the importance of balancing between traveling and being in solitude with oneself. "I think travel is important, but if you're not rooted yourself, you will go to a hundred places and not see anything", explained the architect, "traveling helps you step back from what you take for granted".
.jpg?1617889198 "Courtesy of BIG")
.jpg?1618821707 "© Wiktoria Wojciechowska")
.jpg?1618821715 "© Patrycja Wojtas")
.jpg?1618821737 "© Patrycja Wojtas")
.jpg?1618821691 "© Michał Sierakowski")
.jpg?1618821691)
.jpg?1618071837 "Courtesy of BIG")
.jpg?1618071843 "Courtesy of Alexis Christodoulou")
.jpg?1618576449 "Wall House. Image © Javier Callejas")
.jpg?1618576436 "Wall House. Image © Javier Callejas")
