Las Palmas, Canary Islands. Drone photo by @sebastien.nagy
Fascinating and photogenic, colorful cities often catch the eye not only of the thousands of tourists visiting every year but also of many architects around the world. From an aerial viewpoint - which happens to be how many visitors get their first glimpse of these cities from the window of an airplane - one can see the colorful picture created by the many different shades of roofs and rooftops.
There are many different reasons for this diversity of colors. Some cities use specific colors on roofing as a climate strategy, while others simply have a tradition of painting houses in a certain way. In any case, these colorful cities are unquestionably very visually appealing.
I first went to China in 2002, a year after the International Olympic Committee awarded the 2008 Summer Games to Beijing. That initial trip was about exploring nature, cuisine, ancient temples, archeological sites, and, in general, experiencing lifestyles in China, mainly outside of its major cities. I was motivated by the pure curiosity of a Western tourist driven to an Eastern country in search of the old world, the exotic, hoping to catch a glimpse of a rich traditional culture on the cusp of its inevitable radical transformation. At the time, there was no modern, or rather contemporary, architecture in China to speak of. There were only the promising first hints of the development of a potentially new architectural language being undertaken by just a handful of independent architects almost entirely under the radar.
In April 2023, India achieved a significant milestone that will shape the trajectory of its urbanization going forward. According to data from the United Nations, the South Asian subcontinent is now home to over 1.4286 billion people, overtaking the former leader China’s count of 1.4257 billion. With a population boom that is estimated to grow at a 0.7% rate annually, India faces several challenges and opportunities in its path to becoming a global power.How will India’s rising demography influence its built environment?
Every year since 1996, the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has hosted the RIBA London Awards to celebrate outstanding works of architecture from across the United Kingdom. This year, the list of winners includes 52 buildings ranging from a senior day-care center in Blackheath to a cultural hub in Greenwich and a subtle intervention in Hackney’s de Beauvoir conservation area. All RIBA London Awards winners will be considered for the RIBA National Award, scheduled to be announced on June 22nd.
Flexibility and open spaces are themes in contemporary house design. Multifunctional spaces and creative storage solutions are more than welcome when seeking easily adaptable environments to meet owners' constantly changing needs. To give you some fresh inspiration, we have selected ten projects that feature countertops that integrate different programs and serve more than one function in the home.
Climatic conditions are changing around the world, and with more extreme temperatures and limited resources, architectural and urban solutions must also change. How could our homes look and function effectively in a post-climate change scenario? Analyzing in detail the forecasts of these climatic variations, the architects of W-LAB have developed a Low-Tech habitat proposal for humid, hot, and arid climates, incorporating bio-materials, transportable solutions, and configurations that promote life in small and resilient communities.
ICFF and WantedDesign Manhattan returns this month to the Jacob K. Javits Convention Centre, with both fairs newly under the directorship of WantedDesign founders Odile Hainaut and Claire Pijoulat. Image Courtesy of ICFF / WantedDesignManhattan
Next month ICFF and WantedDesign Manhattan, New York’s concurrent design fairs that form the backbone of the NYCxDESIGN Festival, come together under the same leadership for the first time. Already under the same roof –that of the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center– since 2021, ICFF, the long-standing platform for established American design and its international peers, and WantedDesign Manhattan, the platform for independent and emerging talent at home and abroad, are now co-ordinated by WantedDesign’s founders, Odile Hainaut and Claire Pijoulat. Integrating agendas and taking the fairs in a new interactive direction, they are looking to unify the vision while retaining the essence and purpose of each.
https://www.archdaily.com/1000716/whats-new-in-design-icff-and-wanteddesign-manhattan-2023-adopt-a-shared-visionEmma Moore
In tropical countries like Brazil, external areas are highly valued in residential projects. The backyards are used differently and configured according to the architectural project. Whether large or small, landscaped, with a pool, or equipped with other features, Brazilian families seek to make the most of their outdoor areas when possible.
Cities are complex ecologies of intersecting natural systems and urban infrastructure. Environmental degradation has brought attention to the asymbiotic relationship between man-made and natural systems. A new economy is emerging where interdependence and environmental stewardship are valued. Designing for a circular economy requires consideration of human habitats not as towns or cities, but as bioregions.
Every year in Mexico City, during the month of February, "Art Week" is celebrated with a series of events that seek to offer experiences in different spaces, mostly museums, cultural centers, or art galleries that join the cultural agenda. This event is important because both the city and these venues become the stage for different contemporary artists who come together to exhibit their work and enrich the dialogue around today's art. It is also a tourist destination that attracts collectors from all over the world.
The transformation in the domestic spaces’ dynamics impacts the architecture inside and outside houses and apartments. Kitchens are the prime example of this transformation. Historically considered marginalized workspaces, they have gained more prominence as architectural spaces. This influences not only the size of the rooms and their organization but also the used claddings.
Located in the southern part of Benin-Republic, near the port city of Cotonou, is Ganvie; the largest floating village in Africa. It is situated in the middle of Lake Nokoué and is characterized by colorful wooden stilt houses arranged around artificial islands dating back to the 17th century.
This unique architecture was born from the history of the Tofinu tribe, who built it as a refuge from the slave trade. It has been sustained over time by their communal socio-ecological aquacultural systems and has now become a global tourist attraction for the country. The village was recognized as a world cultural heritage site by UNESCO in 1996, attracting up to 10,000 visitors annually. However, this influx of tourists has impacted the locals and their socio-ecological practices that sustain this water environment. Aquaculture has become increasingly challenging to maintain as the village struggles to retain its economic foundation. Additionally, traditional building practices have given way to modern ones, and the village faces ongoing environmental challenges. Nevertheless, the unique lifestyle of the locals around the water still offers many lessons for the design of prospective floating cities.
Concepting is all about the early stages of the design process. A process where architects need to explore, think, make, create and express. It is not a linear process with a defined start and end point but rather a circular/iterative process. It involves testing and rejecting. Sometimes an entire concept will be 'thrown away', while at other times, the architect will keep and discard parts and continue to evolve.
The work of lead architects is essential during the concepting stage, where their experience and vision allow them to set the project's parameters and overall design intent. By enabling architects to spend more time in this stage, with more data and feedback, Spaces contributes to creating better project outcomes and architects who can spend more time doing what they do best and enjoy the most.
The Naomi Milgrom Foundation has revealed the design of its tenth MPavilion, designed by Pritzker Prize-winner Tadao Ando, set to open during Australian summer, on November 16, 2023. Reflecting the architect’s architectural approach, the design unveiled the “use of striking geometric interventions in nature and […] concrete.” Once ready, the intervention will become the architect’s first commission in Australia. Created as a new gathering place situated within Melbourne's cultural and botanical garden precinct, MPavilion 10 responds directly to the park's surroundings by emphasizing spatial purity and utilizing the geometric shapes of circles and squares.
As part of the Circlewood consortium, OMA’s David Gianotten and Michel den Otter have developed a modular system to build schools that can adapt and transform throughout their lifecycle. The system was selected by the City of Amsterdam to be employed to build multiple schools in the coming ten years, as part of the Innovation Partnership School Buildings program. The citywide initiative aims to build nine to thirty “high-quality, flexible, and sustainable” schools as a way to contribute to the city’s goal of becoming fully circular by 2050.
"The taste of the apple lies in the contact of the fruit with the palate, not in the fruit itself," Jorge Luis Borges once said. The taste is not something inherent in itself; its experience is the result of an encounter. Similarly, emotions are not contained within architecture, but are only felt through the encounter of the body with the space, when it becomes a place. How does the environment affect how we feel? This is the question that drives the duo of artists and filmmakers Ila Bêka and Louise Lemoine in their latest endeavor, the book "The Emotional Power of Space," which will be released on May 17th in an event preceding the opening of the Venice Architecture Biennale 2023.
Ice caps are rapidly receding; one of America’s two political parties is actively undermining federal authority; despite new materials and additive manufacturing, most houses constructed today are built much as they were several generations ago; the pathological suburbanization of the nation continues unabated. In the face of this and more, it seems, “the center cannot hold.” Such were several of the issues that prompted Keith Krumwiede, a soon-to-be fellow at the American Academy in Rome (AAR) at the time, to argue in 2017 that if a single detached house for every family is at the core of “The American Dream,” then we need a new dream.
The Salone del Mobile in Milan - 2023 is one of the most anticipated design events of the year. Present once again, as different brands showcased their exceptional materials, products, and features in an environment where design sets the tone, DAAily hosted the DAAily bar, in its second edition, organized jointly by Designboom, Architonic, and ArchDaily.
Taking place at the Piazza Cavour’s Swiss Corner on the edge of Brera, from April 17th, 2023, until April 21st, 2023, the DAAily bar was an opportunity to not only celebrate with architects, designers, and industry figures but also to recognize ArchDaily's "Most Referenced Brands" ranking, a diverse list of important brands in the architecture and design industry. More than 30 brands were awarded a trophy during the event.
The Design Educates Awards, the awards that annually recognize the best projects that respond to complex social and environmental contexts and carry educational value, have just announced the results of the 2023 edition. The awards look for what will have a lasting impact on users and the environment and showcase the world's best ideas and realizations that can educate.
Following an international competition, Kengo Kuma & Associates has been selected to design the new visitor center for Butrint National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site on Albania’s Ionian coastline. Through its placement in a nodal and strategic position, the project aims to establish a new connection between the local communities and the expected archeological site visitors, thus improving the accessibility of the site, which is recognized as one of Albania’s chef cultural attractions. The visitor center, developed with Albanian partners CHwB Albania, is scheduled to open to the public in 2025.
House of the Flying Beds . Image Courtesy of Al Borde
The 2023 Sharjah Architecture Triennial (SAT) will take place from November 11th, 2023 to March 10th, 2024, under the theme "The Beauty of Impermanence: An Architecture of Adaptability". Focusing on how scarcity in the Global South has led to a culture of re-use, re-appropriation, innovation, collaboration, and adaptation, the second edition of the architectural exhibition, curated by Tosin Oshinowo, aims to shift global conversations towards creating a more sustainable, resilient, and equitable future.
Brutalism is an architectural style that originated in the 1950s and became popular in the 1960s. Its name comes from the French "béton brut," which means "raw concrete," as this material is one of the most characteristic elements of the style. Its main features are the apparent use of concrete, offering visuals where natural texture and tonality are the protagonists of the buildings. Brutalist buildings often have an austere and massive aesthetic, with simple and repetitive geometric shapes. The use of industrial materials and innovative construction techniques is also common in brutalism.
The Diversity in Architecture Prize (DIVIA) was awarded to Italian architect Marta Maccaglia, founder of Semillas, for her commitment to educational construction in Peru. This international recognition of 20,000 euros aims to promote the visibility of women in the architecture industry. Among the five finalists of this edition were Tosin Oshinowo (Nigeria), May al-Ibrashy (Egypt), Noella Nibakuze (Rwanda), and Katherine Clarke and Liza Fior (United Kingdom).
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The Architect Show in Athens provides a forum for presenting the latest building products and discussing key themes facing the architecture profession. Image Courtesy of The Architect Show
With so many architecture and design trade shows taking place around the world each year, it can be challenging to identify which ones offer exhibitors and visitors a genuinely useful and valuable experience. In recent years there has been a trend towards more local events that provide opportunities for industry professionals to make meaningful connections with potential partners. Since it was established in 2019, The Architect Show has become an important forum for Greece’s architecture community, bringing together representatives from national and international brands that support the country’s vibrant real estate market.
