This article was originally published on Common Edge.

This summer the federal government released an astonishing statistic: 87% of American homes are now equipped with air conditioning. Since the world is getting undeniably warmer, I suppose this isn’t all that surprising, but keep in mind that robust number of mechanically cooled homes include residences in some fairly temperate climates. So my question is a simple one: When did air conditioning in the U.S. became a requirement, rather than an add-on? 

The 2019 London Design Festival opened this month and features a large-scale instillation called Please Be Seated by Paul Cocksedge. Returning for its 17th year, the festival celebrates design across London and aims to promote the city as a major design capital. Please Be Seated joins a series of art, design and performance-based projects by internationally-renowned designers across the city.

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Finnish practice JKMM’s newest project, The Dance House Helsinki, is set to become Finland’s first venue dedicated primarily to dance and the performing arts. Offering rehearsal and performance spaces for artists, Dance House forms an extension to Cable Factory, the largest existing cultural center in Finland.

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The “New Créteil” was an urbanization program carried out in the seventies. It was intended to provide the city of Créteil, which is located around 6 km southeast of Paris, new apartment buildings and public facilities such as a town hall, prefecture, hospital, and courthouse. In a series called “See the New Créteil,” photographer Robin Leroy documents a city considered transcendent of the traditional clichés of modern architecture.

Archstorming, an architectural platform that organizes international competitions, has released the results for the Tulum Plastic School contest. In fact, participants were challenged to design a school made of recycled plastic, tackling the current issue of pollution in Mexico.

Four episodes of the third season of “By Design”, GRAPHISOFT’s multi-award-winning digital content series have led viewers on a path of discovery. By Design: Metamorphosis, takes an unflinching look at the fear many firms have when it comes to technological change, and what it takes to overcome it to unlock their true potential, elevate their role and better ensure their future.

The first phase of construction on the Bruce Museum in Greenwich, Connecticut has begun. The New Orleans based architecture, interiors and urban planning firm EskewDumezRipple (EDR) was selected to design the new addition and renovation for the community-based Museum.

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Washington, D.C.-based non-profit The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) has announced that it will establish an international landscape architecture prize to be conferred biennially. This is the first and only international landscape architecture prize that includes a US$100,000 monetary award. Landscape architects, artists, architects, planners, urban designers, and others who have designed a significant body of landscape architecture projects are eligible for the award.

Harvard University Graduate School of Design has announced the 2020 Richard Rogers Fellowship cycle. Open to accomplished practitioners and scholars working in fields related to the built environment, the research-focused residency program is based in London at the Wimbledon House, designed by Lord Richard Rogers in the late 1960s. Fellows have researched a diverse series of topics, including examinations of public and affordable housing; how food and cooking transform cities; and citizen-driven urban regeneration initiatives, among others.

MOR-architects and EP Architects were awarded the first position in the competition for the new Archaeological Museum of Sparta. With an architectural concept based on creating an elevated space of exhibition on top of the archaeological site, the winning project generates a constant visual connection between the old and the new.

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Videos

Since its founding in 1984 by architect Richard Saul Wurman, TED has been a powerful force in the fields of technology, entertainment, design, and beyond. Architects are among the millions of people around the world who frequently tune into TED's “ideas worth spreading” including talks by architects such as Bjarke Ingels and Jeanne Gang. With over 2500 talks to choose from, we have followed on from our previous lists to provide you with 20 talks to help you work better as an architect.

KCAP + Felixx have won the international competition for the revitalization of the coastline of Dapeng, severely damaged by the Mangkhut typhoon in September 2018. The winning proposal developed a logic of “Triple dike strategy”, a barrage system to ensure future resilience.

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SLA and BIECHER ARCHITECTES, have won the international competition to develop the former location of the Ordener-Poissonniers’ railway into a socially sustainable urban development, in the heart of the 18^th arrondissement of Paris, France. The 3,7-hectare site will include 1000 new residents, big public parks, offices, theater, public school, industrial design incubators, a graduate school of design, food courts and urban farming.

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The winner was announced by ArchDaily Editor-in-Chief David Basulto at the Future Architect conference at Strelka Institute. The grand prize went to the Coffee Production Plant in Tbilisi, designed by Georgian architecture firm Khmaladze Architects.

The independent juries will evaluate entries in the 6th International LafargeHolcim Awards for Sustainable Construction in five regions of the world. Each jury consists of nine experts in sustainable design and construction. The Awards seek real projects as well as bold ideas that combine sustainable construction solutions with architectural excellence. The competition offers a total of USD 2 million in prize money and is open for entries until February 25, 2020.

In Brooklynn New York, ODA created new stacked functions for a school for girls in Crown Heights, in a highly dense urban fabric. Starting with a compact shaped cube, the design of the Beth Rivka School merges the benefits and the creative constraints of a vertical building.

MAD Architects have designed a new pylon infrastructure with Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HyperloopTT). Created as an elevated rapid transport system, the project is made to demonstrate how the artificial can merge with nature through a new urban infrastructure. MAD’s proposal aims to rethink the future of travel and reshape the way we plan and use public space.

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The history and architecture of Burkina Faso is tied to its landscape. As a landlocked country in western Africa, it occupies an extensive plateau with grassy savannas and sparse forests. More than two-thirds of the people live in rural villages, and as such, the country’s modern architecture is the product of ingenuity born from reimagining traditional building materials and techniques.

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