During the opening keynote at the UIA 2023 World Congress of Architects, Bjarke Ingels, the lead and founder of BIG, shared insights into pressing global challenges along with the office’s distinctive approach to addressing them. After the conference, ArchDaily had the chance to sit down with Bjarke Ingels to further expand on these topics. The discussion touched on a number of subjects, including BIG’s approach to design, based on their principle of “Hedonistic Sustainability,” the meaning and opportunities behind this change in mentality, the inter-applicability of technological innovations across different fields and even across planets, and the need to develop a New European Bauhaus as a response to the emerging environmental necessities.
Architecture News
"Architecture as a Framework for the Life That We Want to Live": Bjarke Ingels Explains Hedonistic Sustainability and the New Bauhaus
CHYBIK + KRISTOF Wins Competition to Design Primary School in Stará Boleslav, Czech Republic
CHYBIK + KRISTOF has just won an architectural competition to design the new primary school in Stara Boleslav in the Czech Republic. The school will allow up to 900 children from sixteen neighboring towns to attend. Furthermore, the design is based on a flexible methodology that will enable the school to change in the future to meet new demands. The building's green atrium opens views of the city's primary local and historical structures. Moreover, the school is designed to become an educational and cultural hub for the town and the neighboring public.
Little Big Architecture: Getting to Know Jirau’s Work
When it comes to architecture, scale is inevitably mentioned for graphic and two-dimensional representation of the built area, land size, and city extension. Architecture is a grand discipline with robust constructions and large areas, but the field of action is vast, encompassing "smaller" scales: essential housing, restricted land, and small cities.
Explore the Future of Architecture with Augmented Reality
Augmented reality (AR) software has been a common feature in professional design toolkits for a while. But the recent release of Apple’s Vision Pro glasses shows the mixed-reality wearables sector is making serious inroads in consumer markets too, as one of the world’s biggest names in consumer design and technology enters the market.
A major reason for the immense hype surrounding Apple’s foray into AR/VR hardware, however, is the decision to position it as ‘spatial computing.’ By taking the complexity of augmented reality, and using it to heighten a familiar consumer sector – personal computing – the Cupertino-based brand has simplified the whole experience, widening its understanding and appeal.
Architecture for Inhabiting Space: Tessellated Reconfigurable Structures for Adaptive Environments
Architecture is likely to exist in any place or physical space inhabited by human beings. Moreover, our inherent curiosity and exploratory spirit constitute an integral aspect of our humanity. Fueled by our inventive capacity, drives us to venture into future scenarios that we can explore as individuals and as a society. Consequently, the possibility of a future in space has sparked the imagination of scientists and designers, resulting in conceptual and science fiction designs where human beings inhabit space.
The inventive and imaginative human capacity can be traced through the work of artists such as Jean-Marc Côté, who, in the early 20th century, envisioned a series of retro-futuristic illustrations depicting what life would be like in the year 2000. There are also notable literary references, such as the works of Ursula K. Le Guin, renowned for her speculative fiction exploring humanity's journey as a spacefaring species. Undoubtedly, the future and space are two captivating topics that have inspired the development of a long-term vision for society in space.
Ennead Architects Proposes a Unified Campus Master Plan for the American School in Japan
Ennead Architects has been enlisted to redefine the campus of The American School in Japan (ASIJ) to align the international school’s academic mission with its environment. Currently defined by its aging and fragmented infrastructure, the campus is set to become a dynamic and innovative space, encouraging integrated learning, cohesion, and collaboration across age groups. Sustainability principles, along with the experience of Japanese heritage, also play an important role in the design of the master plan, which proposes a toolkit of solutions intended to help create a unified, sustainable and resilient campus.
Henning Larsen Wins Competition to Design Mass Timber Campus for University of the Faroe Islands
Henning Larsen Architects has just won the competition to design a new university campus building in Torshvan, Faroe Islands. The 8000m2 campus is primarily inspired by the Faroese settlements and indigenous lands, drawing on various ancient methodologies of building for extreme weather conditions. The new design “extends the comfortable outdoor season by 150 days each year,” transforming the campus into an ideal space for learning.
Hillside Homes: How to Dig In for the Long Term
Ever since humans started building (about 10,000 years ago), settlers looking for sites to build new villages or homesteads have kept a simple list of criteria: access to water, proximity to arable land, and, ideally, as flat as possible. Modern development sites instead look for industry and transport links rather than water and farmland, but a level site is still the preferred option.
Whether you cut and fill into the landscape by digging in a retaining wall, or balance the structure above the hillside on stilt supports, building on sloping ground always adds time, cost, and difficulty to the project. With immense views and extra space both inside and out, however, the results can be worth the extra effort.
Hello Wood’s Builder Summit Experiments with Construction Techniques to Revive an Abandoned Quarry in Hungary
After a three-year break, Hello Wood’s builder festival returns to welcome students, architects, and young professionals from all across the world to join the 10-day builder camp to test their wooden construction abilities, learn to collaborate, and participate actively in on-site design and construction. For the first time in Hello Wood’s 13-year history, this year’s workshop takes place at a new location, in the crater of an abandoned basalt quarry on Haláp Mountain in Hungary. The workshop also aligns with and supports Veszprém’s title of 2023 European Capital of Culture, which also includes over a hundred other villages and towns across the Bakony-Balaton region. The event took place between July 6 and 15, ending in a two-day music festival open to all.
Ghisellini Architects Creates a Forest-Encircled Public Square for Livraga, Italy
Ghisellini Architects, in collaboration with Lucrezia Alemanno and Paolo Beniamino De Vizzi has unveiled the redevelopment and complete redesign project for the new Piazza Francesca Cabrini in Livraga, Italy. Located about 45 kilometers southeast of Milan, the municipality of Livraga set out to transform the currently degraded public space and transform it into an attractive gathering place with site-specific environmental and landscaping features. Construction is expected to begin in August 2023 and is scheduled for competition in 2024.
Graham Foundation Supports 38 Projects, Exhibitions, Publications and Public Programs Focusing on Architecture's Role in Culture Creation
The Graham Foundation announced awards to organizations worldwide, supporting 38 different projects. The projects range from exhibitions, publications, and other activations serving the public through arts and culture. Together, these projects examine various topics, platforms, and issues in contemporary architecture discourse and showcase the work of architects, artists, curators, designers, educators, and other professionals working with organizations around the world in places like Chicago, Los Angeles, Tijuana, and Beirut.
60 Years of Barbie Architecture: When Popular Culture Meets Design
In her 1959 debut by Mattel, Barbie became a doll that transformed the toy industry and has been a popular culture icon ever since. 3 years later, the first accompanying Barbie Dollhouse was created, a home for Barbie representing her domestic, habitual, and day-to-day life. Over the past 60 years, Barbie Dreamhouses have changed and evolved, each iteration adopting the architectural and design fads of the eras in which they were produced. In fact, each dollhouse is an artifact of the unique blend of history, politics, popular culture, trends, and design styles that define architecture as we know it.
24 Indoor Pools: Bringing the Tranquility of Water to Interior Spaces
Within architecture, water evokes sentiments of calmness and wellbeing. The element has influenced design through its dynamic and fluid nature. With recent technological advances, architects have created some of the most strategic, innovative, and unexpected intersections of design and H2O.
Below, we have provided a roundup of indoor pools that highlight the application of water in different spaces, showing its relationship to materiality and use.
Vertical Urbanism: Milan Highrises Reaching New Heights
Milan’s urban fabric has long been defined by change. In a city known for its historic monuments, from the Piazza Duomo and Milan Cathedral to works like Velasca Tower, contemporary architecture must balance many existing contexts. Emerging as a global center for design and culture, Milan has become home to new buildings and structures addressing this condition as iconic landmarks and expressive forms. Actively building upon its legacy, Milan has turned its attention to the sky.
Exploring Local Material in Contemporary Architecture: PWDC Transforms Building Surfaces in Nigeria
In Lagos, a city with a complex urban fabric that includes historical buildings and vast interpretations of contemporary architecture, lies PatrickWaheed Design Consulting (PWDC). This design practice, Co-led by Adeyemo Shokunbi, aims to contribute to a Nigerian architectural language through the renaissance of local materials. Through explorations anchored in local laterite, they have developed the material as a modern finishing technique, investigated its potential as a natural dye, discovered new ways to employ its thermal properties, and now build the research prospect of other local materials. I had the opportunity to speak with Architect Shokunbi, who discussed the initial inspirations and investigations during the construction of two building projects (Mad House & Abijo Mosque) in Lagos. These projects brought the Laterite finishing technique to life and now help build the case for a Nigerian architectural language.
BIG, ICON, and Lennar Complete the First 3D-Printed Model House at the Wolf Ranch Community in Austin, Texas
The first 3D-printed model home built by ICON and Lennar and co-designed by BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group is now open for visits at the 100-home community of Wolf Ranch in the city of Georgetown, near Austin, Texas. The house is part of the largest-scale development of 3D-printed homes in the world, currently under construction. Several of the homes have already been sold. With more than 80 of the home sites actively under construction and nearing completion, the first homeowners are scheduled to move in this September.
Exploring Haus Balma by Kengo Kuma Architects in Vals, Switzerland Through the Lens of Paul Clemence
In his latest photo series, Paul Clemence captures Haus Balma, a residential and commercial building designed by Kengo Kuma Architects. Situated in Vals, at the foothills of the Graubünden Mountains, the building was designed for Truffer AG, a family business founded in 1983, specializing in processed Valser quarzite stone slabs. Typically used as a flooring and roofing material, many architects have used quartzite stones in this region, including Peter Zumthor in his Therme Vals, Norman Foster, and Philippe Stark.
Designing Innovative Small Kitchens With Different Compositions and Materials
Nowadays, homes are built in increasingly smaller spaces in densely populated cities. The kitchens, which today serve not only to prepare meals but also as meeting spaces where we receive guests, are the places that have undergone the most transformations in recent decades. Whether by integrating with other living areas or by the super functional design of a single counter, there is an increasing search for innovation in this fundamental part of a home.
The Close Relationship Between Art and Architecture in Modernism
The idea of integration between art and architecture dates back to the very origin of the discipline, however, it took on a new meaning and social purpose during the Avant-Garde movement of the early twentieth century, becoming one of the most defining characteristics of Modernism. This close relationship is evident in the works of some of the greatest modern architects, such as Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier, and Oscar Niemeyer, to name a few.
Letter From Ljubljana, Slovenia: The Human-Centered Urbanism of Jože Plečnik
This article was originally published on Common Edge.
Recently I traveled to Ljubljana, Slovenia, in search of the religious architecture of the celebrated (but largely unknown in the U.S.) Slovenian architect Jože Plečnik (1872–1957). I write a lot about the architecture of spirituality, and I was curious about Plečnik’s churches and chapels—what the architect’s idiosyncratic form of classicism said about faith in a Modern age. What I didn’t expect to find was the universal nature of Plečnik’s work as an urbanist: a re-maker of the Slovenian capital that holds lessons for us today.
Let There be Light! 12 Projects that Show the Impact Lighting can Make to an Interior Space
Light is a key feature in architecture. Centuries ago, the sun and fire were the only sources of illumination, but in today's technology-driven world, artificial lighting and cutting-edge optical technologies have found ways to mimic the qualities of natural light, making it possible to have a naturally-lit-looking space within four walls. LED technologies have even made it possible to embed lighting in furniture, interior surfaces, and facades, altering their intensities and hues to make light a main feature in the architecture's storytelling.
If used effectively, lighting can become a lot more than just an illuminator; it becomes a mood setter, a symbol of a specific emotion the architect is trying to convey. For instance, indirect lighting becomes a floater, levitating the walls from the ground and making the space seem lighter in weight, whereas orange light manipulates the space's temperature, creating the illusion that the users are walking into an intense, overheated room.
How are Cities Adapting to Heatwaves in the Face of Climate Change
The climate crisis has made heatwaves more likely and more intense around the world. Record-breaking high temperatures are being reported across the world. According to international data, the first week of July 2023 was the hottest week on record, putting millions of people in danger. All throughout this summer, recurring heatwaves have been affecting large portions of Asia, Europe, and the United States, priming the land for fires in places like Greece, Spain, and Canada, triggering unhealthy air warnings, evacuations, and heat-related deaths. The increasingly threatening effects of the climate crisis are also felt in cities worldwide, as extreme heat proves to be a rapidly growing health risk to millions of urban dwellers.
Cities are on the front lines of this public health emergency. People living in urban areas are among the hardest hit when heatwaves happen, partly because of urban heat islands. This is a phenomenon that occurs when cities replace the natural land cover with dense concentrations of surfaces that absorb and retain heat, like pavements and buildings. Heat risk levels also vary by neighborhood, with less affluent and historically marginalized sectors being the most affected due to the density of the population, limited access to cooling systems, and the limited availability of green urban spaces.
Cities For People: In Conversation with Jan Gehl at the UIA World Congress of Architects 2023
The UIA World Congress of Architecture 2023 is an international invitation for architects worldwide to explore the future of the built environment. The event this year that brought together 6,000 participants worldwide, focusing on “Sustainable Futures – Leave No One Behind”, was set on discovering how architecture influences the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), ranging from Climate Adaptation, Rethinking Resources, Health, Inclusivity, and more. While visiting this year’s edition in Copenhagen, the ArchDaily team had the chance to sit down with Jan Gehl, the father of people-centered design. The discussion revolved around 50 years after the launch of his world-renowned book, Cities for People, the first publication to reflect on how to properly develop cities on the human scale. Moreover, the interview followed his keynote speech at the UIA 2023, “Cities for People – 50 Years Later."
Symbiocene Living: Exploring the Potential of Mycelium Blocks for Sustainable Architecture
The geological period we currently inhabit is known as the Anthropocene, defined by the substantial human impact on Earth's ecosystems and geology. In contrast, the Symbiocene, a term coined by Australian philosopher and environmentalist Glenn Albrecht, presents a vision of the future characterized by a positive and symbiotic relationship between humans and the natural world. In the Symbiocene era, humans actively collaborate with nature, acknowledging their interdependence with Earth's ecosystems and striving to regenerate and restore the natural environment, thus creating a more harmonious and sustainable world.
