Most of us have probably imagined living in a castle at some point, whether during childhood, enchanted by fairy tales, or as adults studying European monarchies. Considering this fascination, what would you think if you had the chance to buy your castle? In mid-2014, you could make that dream a reality in Turkey for just $370,000. Each luxurious 325-square-meter castle came complete with blue turrets and spiral staircases. The only catch? Your castle would be one of 731 identical ones. But who cares about exclusivity when you have the chance to live in a Disney fairy tale?
The Enscape 4 All - Architectural Real-Time Visualization Award, a collaboration between ArchDaily and Enscape, has spotlighted the most outstanding and innovative real-time renders produced using the Enscape 4 Real-Time Engine. This award recognizes excellence in four distinct categories: Interior, Exterior, Landscape, and Conceptual. The jury, composed of ArchDaily Editors and Enscape specialists, assessed submissions based on creativity, technique, and the innovative use of real-time rendering. Submissions poured in from all over the world, highlighting the global reach and appeal of this competition.
In 2020, the French Minister of Culture approved an extensive renovation program for the Centre Pompidou with the purpose of resolving the building’s technical issues and ensuring the long-term viability of the iconic structure. Designed by Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers in 1971, the museum was conceived as a “living cultural machine,” sparking controversy due to its unusual architecture. To ensure an efficient renovation process, the building will be fully closed for a period of 5 years, from September 2025 until 2030. French architecture studio Moreau Kusunoki has been commissioned to lead the renovation project, collaborating with Frida Escobedo Studio and AIA Life Designers, who are entrusted with the technical component of the project. The architects have been selected following an international competition, with Renzo Piano as one of the jury members.
With just one month to go until the XXXIII Olympic Games in Paris, the city is in a final push to ensure that the landscape and infrastructure are ready for the world’s largest sporting event. Set to start on July 26 and continue until August 11, 2024, the Paris City Council has approved numerous initiatives to transform the city. Aiming for a greener, healthier, and more mobile Paris, the city has undergone massive changes to showcase its modern advancements and rethink the structure of the Olympic Games.
There is an increasing character of abandoned buildings in many African cities and Limbo Accra; a spatial design practice, roots itself in the experimentation of their repair, reuse, and transformation. The practice views these buildings as a unique architectural typology that includes key city landmarks, from the abandoned Independence house in Lagos to the incomplete airport tower in Accra, amongst others. They see them as major opportunities for modern public space and as symbolic sites for spatial justice. Through techniques such as photogrammetry, Limbo Accra has been creating a digital archive of these buildings and collaborating with artists and designers to propose new prospects for them. ArchDaily had the opportunity to speak with Dominique Petit-Frère, the co-founder of Limbo Accra, about the collective character of these buildings, Limbo Accra’s approach to their transformation, and navigating challenges in the adaptive reuse of these structures.
Every project begins with a program brief outlining the spaces, areas, and requirements essential to kick off the design process. This essential document guides architects in understanding client needs, allocating space efficiently and ensuring the design meets the project's functional requirements.
However, manually converting this tabular data from a spreadsheet to spatial data in your massing tool is incredibly tedious and time-consuming. Tools such as Snaptrude are designed to help architects iterate faster and make more informed design decisions.
The Spanish city of Barcelona, one of Europe's top tourist destinations, has announced a plan to ban apartment rentals to tourists by November 2028. The move, announced by Mayor Jaume Collboni, aims to alleviate the long-standing housing crisis, lower prices for residents, improve livability, and increase the city’s affordable housing stock. Over the past 10 years, the rise in short-term rentals has driven rents up by 68%, and the cost of buying a house by 38%, contributing significantly to a cost-of-living crisis.
The Skidmore Owings & Merril (SOM) two-tower development in Downtown Chicago has just started construction. Situated at the intersection of Lake Michigan and the Chicago River, the new residential development seeks to redefine Chicago’s skyline. Composed of 635 residential units in its first phase, 20% of which are designated as affordable housing, the scheme also outlines the design of DuSable Park. Phase one of the project has officially commenced, occupying the last undeveloped waterfront parcel in the Streeterville neighborhood.
Skyscrapers are iconic symbols of modern urbanization and technological advancements all over North America. These structures are a sign of economic prosperity, urban density, and the capabilities of humanity’s ambition. In major cities across the continent, they shape the skyline and give identity to these metropolises. Cities like New York City, Toronto, and Florida utilize these cutting-edge designs to showcase power beyond their physical stature.
In general, skyscrapers are characterized by their remarkable height and pioneering engineering capabilities. They use advanced materials such as steel, glass, and concrete and serve as multifunctional spaces, ranging from housing to hotels and offices. Architects all around the world continually push the boundaries of architectural creativity, design, sustainability, and functionality while crafting these buildings. The structures allow architects to maximize land use in new ways, tackling densely populated urban areas.
They say Rome wasn’t built in a day, and the same surely applies to one of the most prominent and glitzy cities in the world: magnificent Paris. It might even seem that both cities, of legendary repute, are somehow counterparts. They were both envisioned by an emperor who wanted to display a political message of innovation, grandeur, and opulence. In both cases, these major urban reforms and massive reconstructions blanketed any popular struggle or resistance with blinding beauty and a popular entertainment setup (from gladiators to cancan dancers and brasseries). And thus came to be the Paris that we now know, a city of divertissement that amasses over 30 million tourists a year.
But it’s also fascinating to learn how an entire growing city was dealt with as a single, almost experimental mass project. For over twenty years, from 1853 to 1870, Paris was a continuous construction site. With the implementation of new technologies and new design standards, the result was not just a different aesthetic but a completely new social order, urban sprawl, and way of life.
Evolving theories in urban design seek to reframe how cities are built and experienced. As theory and practice grows more empathetic towards the needs of its diverse stakeholders, queer urban design brings a broad and holistic shift to understanding identity and community in publicly inhabited spaces. The approach challenges traditional - often rigid - methods of city planning by applying principles of queer theory to reflect fluidity and interconnectedness. On occasion of Pride Month 2024, ArchDaily investigates the building blocks of "queer urban design" to influence city planning practices to be more inclusive.
This June, the Roppongi Museum in Tokyo is hosting an exhibition titled "Miss Dior: Stories of a Miss.” Designed by OMA/Shohei Shigematsu, the display presents the 78-year legacy of the renowned Miss Dior perfume, which was launched alongside Dior's revolutionary "The New Look" in 1946. Organized as a journey through seven rooms, the exhibition design features not only the perfume and related memorabilia but also explores the various inspirations and collaborations that have shaped its cultural significance.
C.F. Møller Architects has just been declared the winner of the urban competition to develop the Luna District in Södertälje, Sweden. Their proposal, “The Sky is Our Roof” outlines the transformation of the Luna District, known as Lunagallerian, representing one of the most extensive urban development projects in Södertälje’s history. Set to be reimagined into several open urban districts, the project was selected out of 35 architectural firms.
Within the framework of implementing green infrastructure projects for water management in the Basin of Mexico, utilizing existing public spaces, La Quebradora Water Park emerges as the first proposal for hydro-urban acupuncture. The project, developed by the team from the Institute of Social Research at UNAM, coordinated by Manuel Perló Cohen and Loreta Castro Reguera Mancera, aims to transform the site's infiltration into a landmark of good water management, public space creation, and strengthening of the social fabric through four levels: infrastructure, park, city, and viewpoint. Addressing part of the water and social issues facing the area, the proposal transforms urban infrastructure into a public and recreational space for the community in a densely populated area with scarce public spaces.
We are thrilled to announce our upcoming July workshops in collaboration with our ArchDaily Plus partner, Parametric Architecture. These workshops have been thoughtfully curated to empower architects, designers, and enthusiasts by providing them with the latest insights and skills in the dynamic realm of parametric design. Guided by industry experts and visionaries, these immersive sessions will explore cutting-edge techniques, innovative tools, and practical applications, creating an inspiring and dynamic learning environment where participants can take their design expertise to unprecedented levels.
https://www.archdaily.com/1017987/parametric-architecture-july-workshopsArchDaily Team
The 2024 Paris Olympics, officially known as the XXXIII Olympiad is scheduled to take place from 26 July to 11 August 2024. The second city to host the Summer Olympics three times, after London, with the first in 1900 and later on in 1924, Paris will showcase its cultural heritage by hosting the 2024 games at iconic landmarks like the Grand Palais, Eiffel Tower, Gardens of Versailles, and La Concorde. On the other hand, the capital of France is also undergoing major renovations to its waterways with a billion-dollar 'Swimming Plan' aimed at transforming the Seine River into a swimmable aquatic route for the Olympic Games, seeking to restore its historical significance as a vibrant urban river.
With the Paris 2024 Olympics fast approaching and right around the corner, ArchDaily has curated a series of articles and news pieces providing comprehensive insights into both the built and unbuilt environments that will serve as hosts for the games.
In the evolving landscape of architecture and urban design, bioclimatic and biogenic envelopes present a compelling vision for future cities. Dr. Arta Yazdanseta, a Doctor of Design focused on energy and environments, dives into the intersection of design, building performance, and plant biophysical ecology. With a focus on bioclimatic and biogenic envelopes, Dr. Yazdanseta examines how these typologies can enhance socio-natural systems by leveraging their self-organizing potential. Dr. Yazdanseta’s academic journey includes earning a Doctor of Design and a Master of Design in Energy and Environments from the Harvard Graduate School of Design.
Her contributions as a researcher at the Harvard Center for Green Buildings and Cities include developing environmental design strategies and performance analyses for the HouseZero carbon retrofit project. In this interview, Dr. Yazdanseta explores the concept of bioclimatic envelopes and their interaction with passive architectural design principles. With a potential to revolutionize urban environments, the interview reveals insights into her research, the benefits of plant-based materials, and the future of sustainable architecture, emphasizing the critical connection between human and environmental health.
As awareness of sustainable development grows, bamboo is emerging as an attractive alternative to traditional construction materials. This innovative material is making significant inroads in the construction of sports facilities, showcasing how sustainable practices can shape a greener future.
Bamboo stands out as an eco-friendly substitute for wood, concrete, and steel. Its application in sports facility construction markedly reduces environmental impact and enhances sustainability. The use of locally sourced bamboo in certain regions further decreases carbon emissions associated with transportation. The advantages of bamboo extend beyond its environmental benefits. This material is not only strong and durable but also lightweight and flexible, making it ideal for modern construction demands.
Courtesy of Saint-Gobain Architecture Student Contest
More than 224 universities from 29 countries participated in the 19th edition of the Saint-Gobain Architecture Student Contest’s international final. Students from all over the world imagined projects to transform a district of Helsinki in Finland. The winners have just been revealed during an event held by Saint-Gobain in the Finnish capital between June 10th and 12th, 2024.
In the mountain valleys of China’s Fujian Province, thousands of large, rammed earth fortresses lay abandoned. Once used for both defense and collective housing, the tulou typology is an integral part of the region’s cultural heritage, with 46 of them being recognized by UNESCO as World Heritage Sites. Despite this, the rural communities surrounding them have struggled to find new roles and purposes for these buildings. Going beyond the need for conservation, architect Xu Tiantian of DnA_Design and Architecture set out to develop and adapt this heritage to reintroduce it into community life. The Fujian Tulou | Adaptive Reuse project recently won the Gold Prize of Holcim Awards 2023 for Asia-Pacific, recognized for creating “an exemplary model for building conservation initiatives.”In a video interview for ArchDaily, Xu Tiantian discusses the principles that underpin this initiative and the potential outcomes of adaptive reuse in rural communities.
Developers often make it sound as though their latest LEED platinum office building will single-handedly reverse climate change. The unfortunate reality is that they could spend a lifetime designing and building all of their work to meet the highest environmental standards, but it wouldn’t fix the problem. The planet will grow hotter, the seas will rise, and storms will intensify. A century of burning fossil fuels has baked global warming into the atmosphere for our lifetime.
For cities, hosting an Olympic event represents both an honor, an important opportunity for growth, and a significant challenge. With over 200 nations taking part in the Games, the Olympics are the largest sporting competition in the world. Adapting the public and sporting infrastructure to accommodate this sudden influx of people and the scale of these events runs the risk of misunderstanding the cities’ needs after the closing ceremony, often producing “white elephants” that struggle to adapt to the rhythm and necessities of everyday urban life. Urban transformations are often cited as an advantage of hosting the Olympic Games, as cities are incentivized to invest in their traffic infrastructure, housing, and public spaces. One such example is the city of Paris, which introduced its first metro line on the occasion of hosting the second edition of the Olympic Games in 1900.
When it comes to the venues, however, the issue of adaptive reuse becomes a pressing one, as the architecture is challenged to find solutions to transform, accommodating thousands of people during the Olympics, then scaling down to become a financially sustainable part of a city’s sporting offering. Across the world, several Olympic venues have managed to extend their usability after the closing of the games, opening themselves to the local communities and welcoming a more diverse programming of sports and leisure events. While the high construction costs are often difficult to justify, these venues have become markers of local identity and attractive tourist attractions, extending their use decades after welcoming the Olympic crowds.
3XN GXN and landscape architect DETBLÅ have won the commissions for the design of a new Centre for Coastal Nature and Sport Fishing in Assens, Denmark. The proposal features a subtle oval structure to showcase local stories of the natural environment. The building aims to enhance public awareness and appreciation of the marine environment, reflecting a growing understanding of the need for better marine stewardship. It will also act as a hub for knowledge exchange about the impact of humans and climate change on the sea.
