While we wait for summer 2020 and another chance to watch the medal counts climb and cheer on our home countries in the next Olympics, a different type of international contest has tallied its scores and the United States has taken the gold in the World Design Rankings, with China and Japan following for second and third place respectively. Sponsored by the international A’ Design Award and Competition, the world’s largest and most diverse design accolade, the World Design Rankings are compiled based on the number of designers from each country granted an A’ Design Award.
Architecture News
United States, China, and Japan Earn Top Spots in the World Design Rankings
TZG Reimagines Historic Hat Factory as New Hotel
Tonkin Zulaikha Greer have redesigned a historic hat factory in Sydney’s Surry Hills to become a new hotel. The design transforms the handsome Henderson Hat manufacturing warehouse building to act as a catalyst for connecting and reactivating the surrounding public domain. The hotel would add two additional levels to the existing six-story Edwardian building.
Ensure Long-Lasting Design with Resilient Floor Systems
From hospitals and retail stores to large commercial facilities and school buildings, resilient flooring is a popular choice for its durability. Yet like any material, it is subject to human error and neglect; if not properly maintained, even resilient flooring may deteriorate (in aesthetics, function, or both) before its time.
How Architecture Responded to Climate Change in 2019
Throughout the last 12 months, the architectural community has responded in various ways to the Climate Emergency. From innovative proposals that tackle the sustainable design of healthy cities, to collective political action and lobbying, 2019 saw a continued mobilization of ideas, opinions, and actions on how architecture can be used as a tool to help the planet.
Cho Min-suk of Mass Studies on Ephemeral Architecture and Crisis in Korea
Seoul is considered one of the most densely-populated and over-priced cities in the world, reaching a staggering $ 80,000 per square meter. The extreme conditions of the city have forced local architects to operate, design, and build framing the city's urban issues, traditions, and history. This approach by architects has created the theoretical basis of “The Condition of Seoul Architecture”, a publication by multidisciplinary practice TCA Think Tank which sees the point of view of 18 innovative South Korean architects. In this interview, Pier Alessio Rizzardi, founder of the practice, interviewed Chi Min-suk of Mass Studies, explaining his point of view on ephemeral architecture and what influences the studio's work the most.
A Great Carbon Reckoning Comes to Architecture
Practitioners have finally begun taking a more nuanced approach to the carbon emitted by new buildings. Are they too late?
I’ve started calling them come-to-carbon moments—the inner alarm bells that sound as you begin to register the devastating ecological costs of every man-made surface around you. Every sidewalk you’ve ever walked on, every building you’ve ever walked into, and every material inside those buildings, too. It’s the kind of thing you can’t un-see once you’ve started looking, the kind of knowledge that can transform a worldview, or a practice.
Blurred Border, a Conceptual Intervention Where Form Complements the Essence
The Ukrainian based architecture and design firm O.M.SHUMELDA has conceived a conceptual project that embodies a small terminal that draws the borders of the country. Without acting as a separation, Blurred Border is a proposal that impresses and inspires first comers.
BIG and WXY Propose Plans for Greener and Safer Downtown Brooklyn
Bjarke Ingels Group and WXY architecture + urban design, in collaboration with the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, imagined a new future for Downtown Brooklyn. The proposal introduces a greener, safer approach for a pedestrian-friendly neighborhood.
Carmody Groarke to Transform Brutalist Offices into Church Campus
Carmody Groarke and Riehle+Assoziierte have won first prize to create a new campus for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Nuremberg, Germany. The new project aims to renovate and expand a 1960s brutalist office building, creating a new 38,000 sq. meter development in the city. The concept opens up the city-block by placing a new public square at the heart of the composition, presenting the Church as an outward-facing institution.
How do Solar Tiles Work?
Solar tiles operate identically to the photovoltaic panels that are already widely used in construction. The primary difference between them lies in their assembly: whereas photovoltaic panels are attached to an existing roof, solar tiles are part of the roof's construction from the start, taking the place of regular tiling.
The tiles are formed by photovoltaic cells that, when they receive sunlight, create an electric field capable of providing electrical energy for use inside the building. Each tile is connected by cables to the power distribution board.
HOME Competition Released their Results for the 2019 Edition
The HOME competition 2019, organized by architectural initiative arch out loud, has released its winning projects. The annual challenge that pushed the limits of adaptability and innovation, asked designers “What is the future of HOME?”
UN-Habitat Promotes Inclusive Planning and Gender Equitable Cities Using Technology
The Un-habitat or the United Nations agency for human settlements and sustainable urban development, whose primary focus is to deal with the challenges of rapid urbanization, has been developing innovative approaches in the urban design field, in order to encourage the active participation especially of children, women and underprivileged individuals.
Latin American Architects Who Designed Their Own Houses
Is it possible for a structure to reflect the thoughts of an architect? In the area of architecture, it's a well-known fact that the design process is largely shaped by the client, their culture, their requirements, and their budget, with little attention given to the personal tastes of the architects themselves.
Woods Bagot Reveals Winning Design for New Adelaide Central Market Arcade
Woods Bagot have unveiled the winning scheme to redevelop Adelaide’s Central Market Arcade. The mixed use redevelopment will connect the arcade to the market and serve as a cornerstone of the broader market district. The city intends to transform the market precinct into one of Australia’s most recognized lifestyle destinations, and the proposal aims to capture the spirit of the market in the arcade redevelopment.
House Challenge 2019 Explores Temporary Dwellings in the Desert
The House Challenge 2019 has released the results of this year’s competition that gathered entries from all over the world. With a theme focusing on the Desert House, applicants designed new and original concepts for temporary housing in this harsh environment.
Beyond Walls: Payette Lights Up Lynn with Pro Bono Display
Architecture and design studio Payette designed an underpass lighting project for Lynn, Massachusetts. Lynn is one of 26 Gateway Cities in Massachusetts, urban centers that anchor regional economies and are facing social and economic challenges. The project brightens and activates with dynamic, colorful and programmable LED lighting installations.
Innovative Uses of Water in Architecture
From playful indoor pools to tranquil exterior fountains to soaring waterfalls and grand lakes of enormous proportions, architecture throughout the centuries has engaged with water in endlessly innovative ways. Sometimes serving aesthetic purposes, but just as often acting as centers of activity or promoting sustainability, water features can take countless different forms and serve multiple different purposes. Below, we synthesize a series of water features espoused by innovative contemporary architectural projects, ranging from single-family residential homes to vast commercial complexes.
Major Cities Face High Risk of Flooding According to a Goldman Sachs Report
Goldman Sachs has released a report on the effects of climate change on cities across the world. The study explored the major changes that will transform the planet and highlighted several metropolises that will be at risk of flooding.
Kjellander Sjöberg Wins Competition to Climate Proof the Coastal Town of Faaborg in Denmark
Kjellander Sjöberg, one of the leading architectural practices in Scandinavia, in collaboration with GHB Landskabsarkitekter, Mogens A. Morgen, Realise and Tyréns, was selected to design a strategic development plan for Faaborg. The coastal town in southern Denmark is facing many challenges like a high risk of flooding and an important decrease in its population.
L.A.’s Historic Streamline Moderne Firestone Building to be Restored
The Los Angeles Department of City Planning has unveiled details on the restoration of the Streamline Moderne Firestone Building. First opened in 1938, the project operated until its closing in 2016. Built by the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, it was used as a retail outlet for the company’s tires and related automotive products, and the garage remained one of the flagship stores of the company’s operations in Los Angeles.