As far as written records report, “prehistory” dates back between 35,000 BCE and 3000 BCE in the Middle East (2000 BCE in Western Europe). Ancient builders had a profound understanding of human responses to environmental conditions and physical needs. Initially, families and tribes lived together in skin-covered huts and bone structures. Thousands of years later, human settlements evolved into fortified mud-brick walls surrounding rectangular volumes with pierced openings for ventilation and sunlight.
During the upcoming months, we will be publishing short articles on the history of architecture and how it evolved to set the fundamentals of architecture we know today. This week, we are exploring the architectural characteristics of ancient India and Southeast Asia.
A re-wilded park. Illustration by Sarah Welch. Image Courtesy of SWA Group
As the pandemic has worn on, the American public has adopted parks and neighborhood streets as safe spaces. This will not be a short-lived phenomenon –bikes have been repaired, running shoes purchased, and puppies adopted. People are growing accustomed to spending time in the outdoors to exercise, spend time with family, enjoy nature –and take that growing puppy for walks.
The School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape (SAPL) at the University of Calgary is accepting applications for its Master of Environmental Design (MEDes) program. Located in the foothills of the world-renowned Canadian Rockies, with easy flight access to Vancouver and Toronto, the University of Calgary offers incredible value to international students when comparing its tuition to similar programs in the U.S, as well as a reasonable cost of living compared to other Canadian and American cities.
Quintain, award-winning developer, used Delve to redesign London’s Wembley Park. Image Courtesy of Quintain
Sidewalk Labs has unveiled Delve, a new generative design tool that aims to help developers, architects and urban designers identify better neighborhood design options. It uses machine learning to reveal optimal design options from a series of core components, including buildings, open spaces, amenities, streets, and energy infrastructure. By applying machine learning, it explores millions of design possibilities for a given project while measuring the impact of design choices.
Does it make sense to design green parks in desert cities such as Casablanca, Dubai, or Lima? Ostensibly it does because they contribute freshness and greenness to the urban environment. In exchange, however, they disrupt native local ecosystems, incur high maintenance bills, and begin a constant struggle to ensure water availability.
CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati has created a pilot project for Sella Group’s Open Innovation Center in Turin, Italy, addressing post-pandemic challenges. The new workplace design features automated desk sanitizing, collaborative digital platforms, and smart windows to ensure health, safety, and sociability.
Etherea, the installation conceived by Edoardo Tresoldi for the Coachella festival in 2018, has landed in Rome for "Back to Nature”, an exhibition project curated by Costantino d’Orazio. The large transparent mesh sculpture will dialogue with the trees of the Parco dei Daini, in Villa Borghese, until December 13, 2020.
Croatia has long been a crossroads of culture. Located along the Adriatic Sea, it borders five countries and has some of the richest biodiversity in Europe. The built environment reflects influences from Central Europe and the Mediterranean, as well as both the Roman and Byzantine Empires. Today, a series of new housing projects are reinterpreting the country's past as architects and designers look to reimagine what the future holds.
Fungi are everywhere. In the air, in the water, in our bodies, in the trees, in the ceilings of our bathrooms, underground. They can be mushrooms (edible, medicinal, hallucinogenic, or very poisonous), or take other simpler forms, such as molds. They can trigger illnesses, but they can also produce antibiotic remedies, such as penicillin, or help ferment amazing cheeses and breads. Could they also be the future of packaging and building materials?
The Invisible Facemask. Image Courtesy of Seoul City Government
It is now of worldwide interest to re-think how our cities will adapt to a post-COVID-19 era, and take the necessary actions. Understanding that social distancing is of vital importance, our various daily-life spaces will face an inevitable change. Considering the current situation which calls for proper architectural solutions in response to the unprecedented pandemic, The Seoul Metropolitan Government is developing innovative concepts for new built environments, city spaces, and landscapes, able to adapt to this post-coronavirus era. Aligned with this approach, Seoul City has recently held an international Competition for Architectural Ideas in order to prepare for the post-COVID-19 world.
Questioning “how rooted architecture practice is and how much the built and cultural environment feeds and shapes our imagination”, Beka & Lemoine’s latest film follows one of the most celebrated Japanese architects of our times, Ryue Nishizawa in his vintage Alfa Romeo (Giulia) as he wanders in the streets of Tokyo. After winning the prestigious DocAviv 2020, the black and white documentary Tokyo Ride will soon première in many major architecture film festivals both in Europe and in North America.
Landscape and design office Karres en Brands has won the international competition to design Norway’s National Logging Museum. Selected out of 136 submissions, the team's winning proposal was chosen by the jury and the Commission of Museums in Akershus for building connections to the regional wetlands and local history. Sited on Northern Europe's largest inland delta, the new museum will focus on Norway's cultural and natural heritage.
Architecture sets the scene and provides the framework, but interior design and furniture can have a strong influence on the vibe and mood of a space. As trends in interior design evolve over time, it’s often expressed in the furniture chosen to fill the room. Interior furniture speaks volumes about our priorities and personalities, as well as the atmosphere we want to convey.
In their newly released architectural film, photographer Laurian Ghinitoiu and filmmaker Arata Mori take viewers on a visually compelling tour of OMA’s MEETT Exhibition and Convention Centre, Toulouse’s new mega-scale parc des expositions. Exploring the design’s multiple facets, from the monumental to the mundane, the film constructs a detailed vision of the project sitting at the intersection of architecture, infrastructure, masterplan and public space.
Using unconventional materials in architecture requires a lot of creativity and experimentation in order to create new possibilities that are both efficient and innovative. Small-scale projects, in particular, offer great opportunities to explore these unusual materials because, among other factors, they provide fewer loads on the structures and, sometimes, also have a temporary nature. Nevertheless, using unconventional materials in small-scale architecture can help encourage its use in other projects, including larger constructions.
Elche, Spain. Created by @dailyoverview, source imagery: @maxartechnologies
There is evidence that the orthogonal grid plan, which is one of the most common types of urban planning today, dates back to antiquity. Streets intersect at right angles to each other, resulting in a grid composed of streets, avenues, blocks, squares, parks, among other urban spaces.
S3 Architecture, in collaboration with the Aston Martin Design Team, has revealed images of its first joint residential project, Sylvan Rock, to be built in the Hudson Valley. The modernist estate nestled in a 55-acre wooded plot generates a rural retreat that comprises a residence, a wellness pavilion, multi-functional guest "pods", treehouse, and agricultural gardens.
Oscar Niemeyer’s latest work generated a spherical extension for the Kirow plant’s canteen in Leipzig, Germany. The architect was first approached by the factory’s owner in 2011, and following Niemeyer’s death in 2012, his sketches were further developed by assistant Jair Valera, and executed by Harald Kern Architects.
London-based RCKa has designed a net-zero carbon retirement village for Chester in the United Kingdom. Located in Boughton Heath, the project was made with engineer Max Fordham to reduce carbon emissions. Nearly 15,000 square meters, the village will be made to achieve the Fitwel Standard with more than 140 apartments as an on-site, extra-care development.
Until recently, the origins of the tiny-house movement were of little interest to the scientific community; however, if we take a look at the history of architecture and its connection to the evolution of human lifestyles, we can detect pieces and patterns that paint a clearer picture of the foundations of this movement that has exploded in the last decade as people leave behind the excesses of old and opt for a much more minimalist and flexible way of life.
In the mid-1990s, when I was an editor at Progressive Architecture, jurors for the magazine’s awards program gave an Urban Design Award to Peterson Littenberg Architects for a plan the small New York firm had devised for then-stagnant Lower Manhattan.
At the time, the southern tip of Manhattan ranked as the third-largest downtown business district in the United States. The tightly packed 1 square mile contained a bevy of venerable buildings, among them the New York Stock Exchange, the former headquarters of J.P. Morgan, and the fortress-like, neo-Renaissance Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Though the vast majority of Americans regarded the district as a powerful financial hub, people close to the scene saw it as a place with grim prospects. More than a quarter of its commercial space stood vacant. Companies were leaving Lower Manhattan for Midtown and more distant locales. Many of the office buildings were regarded as obsolete.
Ronald Lu & Partners has created in collaboration with BEHAVE, a blueprint for future-ready offices that meet the new needs of the post-pandemic workforce. Reimagining tomorrow’s office and embracing a new working style, the partnership generated “Mindplace”, an office concept that will “improve work efficiency, focus on sustainability and cater to the holistic needs of employees”.
David Chipperfield Architects has received planning permission for Hertogensite residences in Leuven, a new 14-story residential tower in Belgium. Part of a global vision to redevelop a former hospital campus, the project is connected to nine townhouses and a four-story apartment building.
A new 550-ton steel bridge has been placed next to the new United States Olympic and Paralympic Museum in Colorado Springs. The bridge was designed by the same team as the adjacent Olympic & Paralympic complex - Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Anderson Mason Dale, and KL&A - while taking inspiration from the motion of athletes. The design features a 250-foot curved steel structure that was made to float above the rail yard.
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