A century on, the compelling idea that Modern architecture emerged like some blindingly white, crystalline and disruptive phoenix from the darkness, death and destruction of the First World War is, perhaps, a familiar one. And, yet, the charcoal sketches and chiaroscuro montages Mies van der Rohe made during and after the epochal competition for the Berlin Friedrichstrasse Skyscraper of 1921-22 retain the power to catch the eye, provoke and disturb in our own era of overwhelming imagery much of it produced by and with computer programs.

What is so very remarkable about these century-old visionary drawings is that they portray a future building type - verging on the ethereal and more or less impossible to realize at the time - in the earthiest of drawing materials. It had been a stroke of genius to use charcoal to evoke an architecture of lightness rising from the embers of the trenches that would revolutionize the way we shaped tall buildings and with them our city streets. Such is the power of drawing by hand.

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Commissioned by the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo, Norway, and designed by Snøhetta, the installation entitled The Best Weapon, was first unveiled to the public at the United Nations Headquarters’ Plaza in New York City. This urban peace bench aims to honor “the past Nobel Peace Prize laureates and their efforts to bring people together to find effective solutions for peace”.

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Videos

A new video by AERIAL FUTURES explores how New York's Stewart International Airport could become a catalyst for urban regeneration. Situated 60 miles north of Manhattan, the city is aiming to create a transformation. The video proposes ways in which the airport could positively impact Newburgh’s economy, agriculture, mobility, and civic life, and expand on its function as a travel hub.

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By now, you’ve likely heard about real-time rendering for architectural visualization and how it’s changing the way designs are presented. With real-time rendering, you can edit your design and see the changes updated instantly, at full quality, and you can produce animations and panoramas in minutes instead of days. Real-time rendering also opens the door to immersive experiences like 360° videos and virtual reality.

The Latvian city of Riga, the largest between the three Baltic states, is undergoing a cultural and urban renaissance. The city's pedestrian-only Old Town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site with several museums, cultural centers, and restaurants, attracting thousands of new visitors every year.

London-based architecture firm AI Studio have received planning approval for the development of a mixed-use tower in the Latvian capital, featuring retail stores, offices, restaurants, and public spaces.

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As California makes strides in sustainability, the Von Braun Space Station is taking rather large steps for humankind. Exploring the great unknown does not have to mean abandoning our planet — it can mean just the opposite. In fact, this space station could be our most monumental step toward a sustainable future.

What happens when the sensor-imbued city acquires the ability to see – almost as if it had eyes? Ahead of the 2019 Shenzhen Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture (UABB), titled "Urban Interactions," ArchDaily is working with the curators of the "Eyes of the City" section at the Biennial to stimulate a discussion on how new technologies – and Artificial Intelligence in particular – might impact architecture and urban life. Here you can read the “Eyes of the City” curatorial statement by Carlo Ratti, the Politecnico di Torino and SCUT.

Nowadays materials are requested to play a more engaging role in the digital society.

They can be customized down to their molecular properties and this capacity has an enormous impact on related fields of science, but they also need to be interpreted in their meaning thanks to our ‘semantic capital’, as Luciano Floridi said.

We cannot reduce materials to their property and performances as, as humans, we use them to interpret the world, they are our continuously changing material culture to find an equilibrium between nature and built environment.

The public has often condemned urban renewal, but for the Pennsylvanian city of Pittsburgh, its revival earned a status of "renaissance". In their latest volume of Imagining the Modern: Architecture and Urbanism of Pittsburgh Renaissance, editors Chris Grimley, Michael Kubo, and Rami el Samahy explore the reasons behind the city's congratulatory rebirth.

Miami-based architecture office Arquitectonica, headed by Laurinda Spear and Bernardo Fort-Brescia, has been selected as the 2019 winner of the American prize for architecture. The firm, known for its “Trendsetting Modernist Miami Style”, was launched back in 1977.

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Videos

Christophe Benichou's latest project is the architectural animated short film Windbracing that pays homage to a French science fiction book by Alain Damasio, entitled “La Horde du Contrevent” or Windwalkers. The movie offers “a sensory dive” in a universe freely inspired by the author of the novel, and challenges the spectators’ prejudices.

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Arquivio Architects from Spain have won the architectural competition to design the National Concert Hall in Vilnius, Lithuania. The international competition was endorsed by the International Union of Architects and organised by the Lithuanian Union of Architects and the Lithuanian Ministry of Culture. The winning design by Arquivio was selected from nearly 250 entries across the globe.

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The American Institute of Architects New York Chapter and the Center for Architecture have announced new and expanded programs for the ninth annual edition of Archtober, the official New York City Architecture and Design Month. The festival, now in its ninth year, brings together more than 80 partners throughout the city’s five boroughs to celebrate the importance of design and the built environment.

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The Collective, a global network of co-living that creates private spaces with communal facilities has announced its recent partnership with Sou Fujimoto Architects in New York City. Located in 1215 Fulton Street, in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, the building will start welcoming its first tenants in 2022.

Videos

Nikken Sekkei has been selected as the winner of the international design competition for the Sberbank Business Complex and cultural center in Moscow. The competition was hosted by Russia largest bank, Sberbank. The project is planned to become a new TOD model of Moscow, connected to multiple railway stations, including the metro adjacent to the site. The proposal was based on the concept of two evolving cities that complement and speak to one another through Moscow City and Sberbank City.

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Customization, within the context of interior architectural design, is a resurfacing topic among cross-disciplined design firms focused on interior architecture. Since the reemergence of the Localism trend, individuals and organizations increasingly seek one-of-a-kind experiences, objects, and spaces that can help deepen their connections to their communities.

The London based Heatherwick Studio, have unveiled plans to design their first venture in the Czech Republic, in historic Prague. The project consists of regenerating an important site and create a mix of retail, office and public spaces.

The world winners of the Prix Versailles 2019 were announced at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, celebrating 12 projects in the categories of Shops & Stores, Shopping Malls, Hotels and Restaurants.

The world jury was composed of David Adjaye, Kazuyo Sejima, Francesco Bandarin, Iris Van Herpen, Philippe Starck, Alondra de la Parra, Ferran Adiá and Thomas Vonier. Read on to see the selected projects.

Already in its 7^th edition, the Oslo Architecture Triennale opened this week, exploring “the architecture of a radically transformed society in which cultural and ecological flourishing matter more than economic growth”. Under the title of Enough: The Architecture of Degrowth, the festival is questioning the damage caused to the environment by the constant economic growth.

Architects von Gerkan, Marg and Partners (gmp) have been awarded first prize in the competition to modernize Hans Scharoun's Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin (Berlin State Library). Restructuring the library, their proposal for the golden “ship of books” was made to meet the demands of 21st century institutions while celebrating the existing building. The new project aims to showcase the history of Scharoun building and its development.

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