The FRAM Museum will take on a new extension dedicated to polar exploration and environmental education. Designed by Reiulf Ramstad Arkitekter, the winning proposal of the invited architectural competition, Framtid, or Future is centered on the idea that “architecture exemplifies how we care for our environment”.
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Strelka KB has announced five teams selected for the international competition to integrate development of 5 sites in Saratov, Russia. A total of 67 applications were submitted from 24 countries, and the jury reviewed all the submitted applications to select participants for the second stage. The participants needed to propose a framework of planning, programming, landscaping and transport solutions for the project sites across Saratov City Center.
While concrete is without a doubt the world's go-to building material thanks to its durability, malleability, and ability to withstand a wide range of climates, it is also the principal source of CO2 emissions within the realm of construction. To combat this and reduce their creations' carbon footprint, many architects have begun experimenting and innovating in a bid to optimize concrete's technical qualities while diminishing its impact on the environment. Among these efforts, there are several projects that have explored the possibility of replacing traditional frameworks with more sustainable materials like bamboo, a resource that grows in abundance throughout many regions of the world and, along with having minimal environmental impact, renders high quality textured detailing on a variety of architectural surfaces.
This past June we published a survey called "How do Architects and Industry Professionals Specify Materials and Products”. The objective was to better understand architects’ behaviors and needs during the specification stage of their design processes.
Every company across the country is talking about “diversity” and “inclusion”—but what actions are actually being taken to address the issues? In May, following the death of George Floyd and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, conversations were had, statements issued, and boxes checked. But achieving diversity and inclusion will involve addressing long-term, systemic issues that cannot be solved with a black square on Instagram or a carefully crafted statement from a PR department.
The first step toward diversity and inclusion is recognizing that talking about it is not enough, and the path to real change is going to be a process.
Human impacts on Earth are a common issue nowadays, and many people say that there is no turning back. Climate crisis, greenhouse gases, exploitation of natural resources, production of solid waste and atmospheric pollution are some of the most pressing issues that the global community must address if we want to ensure a sound future for the next generations.
These topics can be viewed in full-color and high-definition in the new book Overview Timelapse: How We Change the Earth, by Benjamin Grant and Timothy Dougherty, which compiles 250 satellite and drone photographs of places on Earth that are in constant transformation.
Dutch design practice Mecanoo has released a new documentary exploring the modernization of Washington DC’s Martin Luther King, Jr central library. Called "A Legacy of Mies and King", the documentary explores both architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's vision in the sixties, as well as the recent effort to create a modern library that reflects a focus on people while celebrating the exchange of knowledge, ideas and culture.
As our cities continue to grow and expand rapidly, there has been an increasing demand for architects and craftsmen to build houses more cost-efficiently under tight deadlines. Modular architecture has been introduced as a concept which involves assembling multiple pre-fabricated modules on site to create a working unit. By joining similar elements together in various ways, modular architecture allows for more flexibilities in design and standardized repair.
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Building in nature constitutes a contradiction, as architecture enables immersive access to the landscape, while at the same time, natural landmarks are being slowly engulfed by tourists. The human presence in natural landscapes is an interplay of scales, a juxtaposition of archetypal shelters against the vast sceneries, as well as a negotiation between access to the landscape and environmental conservation. Exploring a variety of attitudes and formal strategies, the following takes a look at what could be learned from the experiences and design philosophies of several architects and practices that have perfected ways of addressing architecture in the landscape.
The first 3D printed residential building in Germany, built by PERI GmbH, and designed by MENSE-KORTE ingenieure+architekten is undergoing construction in Beckum, North Rhine-Westphalia. The two-story printed detached house with approx. 80 sqm of living space per floor is using a system put into practice in Germany for the first time. In fact, the construction technique has come through all of the regulatory approval processes over the last few weeks and months.
Multi-disciplinary design practice EcoResponsive Environments has won the RIBA competition for the ‘Vision of Future Living’ in Runcorn, England. Designed for SOG’s Heath Business and Technical Park, the proposal aims to help attract interest from global investors and reimagine what the site's future might hold. The competition for the redevelopment of The Heath asked architects to consider how we will live, work and play in the future.
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Since its installation in the late 1990s, a large clock in New York City’s Union Square has been counting up to 24 hours in each day with the number of hours, minutes, seconds, and milliseconds on display. However, the digital screen was recently repurposed as a Climate Clock and now projects the amount of time the world has left to take large-scale action on climate change- and the alarming truth, based on an IPCC Special Report on Global Warming counts down to only a little over seven years left until we reach the point of no return.
This article was originally published on Common Edge.
In 1755, Francesco Algarotti, disgusted with what opera had become, wrote An Essay On The Opera in which he called for its simplification. For Algarotti, opera had degenerated into a vehicle for soloists to grandstand with endless improvisations overshadowing the music and ignoring the drama. Even the drama had lost the plot with mythological characters in extraordinary and complex situations. Algarotti saw drama as being the essence of opera and wanted the emphasis restored to it, with everything else secondary. Christoph Willibald Gluck and his librettist, Ranieri de’ Calzabigi, were the first to make it work with their 1762 opera Orfeo ed Euridice. It had characters and drama people could relate to, music that could be remembered and lyrics and a plot that could be understood. It’s regarded as the first truly modern opera.
A recent study conducted by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) examined how architecture students have been affected by the pandemic. Examining 398 architecture students, the COVID-19 survey found that these young adults are under significant stress and are concerned about their future career. In fact, the results highlight that 58% of students are struggling with mental health and almost half are concerned about job prospects.
Reflecting on the current global situation, Chicago Architecture Biennial (CAB) has reinvented its 2021 edition, in order to generate conversations about the “intersection of architecture and design and such critical issues as health, sustainability, equity, and racial justice”. The Biennial has also announced the appointment of David Brown, designer, researcher, and educator, based at the School of Architecture at the University of Illinois at Chicago, as the Artistic Director of the fourth edition, entitled The Available City.
Being in confinement has produced unconventional means of exploring architectural spaces and installations. Instead of putting everything on hold until life goes back to normal, designers and curators found inspiration from practices like performance arts and theatre, breaking down the walls between the subject and viewers but from a distance.
Ashley Bigham and Erik Herrmann of Outpost Office reimagined the theme of "mobility" by creating 1:1 scale drawings on the Ragdale campus using GPS-controlled field marking robots. Their unique urban installation, which addressed modern-day concerns such as public spaces, how we are engaging with them, and physicality, won first place in the 2020 Ragdale Ring competition.
Yuval Noah Harari points out that, around 300 thousand years ago, Homo erectus, Neanderthals, and ancestors of Homo sapiens already used fire daily. According to the author of the international bestseller “Sapiens,” fire created the first significant gap between man and other animals. "By domesticating fire, humans gained control of an obedient and potentially limitless force." Some scholars even believe that there is a direct relationship between the advent of the habit of cooking food (possibly due to the domestication of fire) and the shortening of the intestinal tract and growth of the human brain, which allowed human beings to develop and create everything we now have.
Scale is a very important referential element in built environments. Once manipulated, however, it becomes a key tool that completely changes the way we experience architecture. One of the most prominent projects that put scale at the forefront was the Svizzera 240: House Tour, the Swiss pavilion at the 2018 Venice Biennale, a project that triggered people's behaviors and perception of space, and left them feeling as though they were experiencing an "Alice in Wonderland". The project was awarded with the Golden Lion award for best National Pavilion, described by the Biennale organization as "a compelling architectural installation that is at once enjoyable while tackling the critical issues of domestic space".
Design Miami’s latest initiative in partnership with Architects for Beirut, has gathered a collection of 100+ original architectural drawings and artworks donated by 90+ renowned architects from around the world. With proceeds going to aid on-the-ground restoration efforts in Beirut, works offered include exclusive pieces from Zaha Hadid, David Chipperfield, Toyo Ito, Steven Holl, Tatiana Bilbao, Adjaye Associates, and Renzo Piano, to name a few.
The Board of Directors of AIA New York has recently released a statement discouraging the design of criminal justice facilities that uphold the current system. Taking a stand against designing unjust, cruel, and harmful spaces of incarceration, AIA NY solicited architects to reflect on the broader social implications of their work.
ZGF Architects has shared a new look at the main terminal of the Portland International Airport (PDX) in Oregon. Scheduled for completion in 2025, the $1.5 billion terminal will be the largest of five capital improvement projects by the Port of Portland. The structure features a series of skylights and an expansive timber roof made from sustainably sourced regional wood. The design draws inspiration from nature and the "signature greenery" of Oregon.
In the Historic Center of Olinda, a Brazilian municipality in the state of Pernambuco, architecture borrows shapes and colors from nature; cobogós perforations on the balconies look like round leaves and fruits, while the railings spiral with a hint of twisted flowers. The colors of the earth and sky also reappear in the floors, backyards, kitchens, and rooms of colonial houses, coating them in shades of brown and blue.
Over two days, approximately 500 online participants together set the agenda, formed and dissolved discussion groups, and shared knowledge and resources. With the assistance of an “open space” facilitator, this is how Cut|Fill, a virtual "unconference” on landscape architecture, unfolded.
Organized by the Urban Studio and Ink Landscape Architects, Cut|Fill was meant to “raise questions we all want to discuss,” explained Andrew Sargeant, ASLA, a founder of Urban Studio. One of those important questions: “how can landscape architects design with empathy and end dismissive behavior towards people of color?”
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A city's industrial past can leave unsettling imprints on the present. Large abandoned structures and forgotten facilities are very appealing not only to the voracious real estate market but also to the imagination of those who daydream about an unpromising past. Take the Ruhr valley, Germany's most populated urban area, and Europe's largest industrial region.
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.jpg?1602705046 "Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex in Essen. Photography & Concept © Erieta Attali")
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