The Law of Polarity holds good in relation to human society and cultures as well - everything has an opposite. Countercultures have erupted as condemnations of “the ways of the world”. A countercultural movement expresses the ethos and aspirations of a population during a specific time. As new lifestyles are explored, supporting architecture evolves to satiate the utopian ideals of new societies. Architecture is a product of the culture it is designed for.
Sustainability is much more than simply deciding for or against a specific product. It is a concept that must be integrated into the way we build and design architecture, as well as the intelligent use of existing buildings and their potential renovations. From a sustainability perspective, demolishing an old building is just as unsustainable as building a new one. Both use large amounts of embodied energy that can be avoided when all planning parties consider new ways of working and collaborate more closely.
In this sense, the efficient use of raw materials and the reduction of waste for reuse is essential. Polycarbonate in façades, for example, has a life cycle of at least 20 years on average and can be recycled and reused in many ways, thus doubling its useful life until it can no longer be usefully recycled.
The ramp is one of the architectural elements that, besides facilitating movement between different heights and floors, provide greater accessibility to spaces. In Brazil, a series of decrees and regulations seek to ensure citizenship rights and promote equality and social inclusion of people with disabilities, which permeates issues related to their mobility and freedom to come and go. Architecture plays a key role in this inclusion, by devising strategies to ensure that these people can transit, participate and interact in any environment, whether public or private.
Infrastructure is widely known by the population in general, defined simply as a set of fundamental services for the socio-economic development of a region, such as sanitation, transportation, energy, and telecommunication. The commonly presented examples always refer to man-made physical structures. However, a new concept of infrastructure has emerged in recent decades, driven primarily by the urgent need for reconciliation between humans and nature for the survival of species.
Highlighting an untapped spatial resource, MVRDV's Rooftop Catalogue, in collaboration with Rotterdam Rooftop Days, is now available online for free. Commissioned by the City of Rotterdam, the Rooftop Catalogue presents 130 innovative ideas to make use of Rotterdam's empty flat roofs, showcasing a potential new phase in the city's development and illustrating how reprogramming rooftops can help with issues such as land scarcity and climate change while also addressing the practical side of repurposing these spaces in terms of construction options and suitable sites.
Beyond light as a physical phenomenon perceptible by the human eye, daylight is an inexhaustible architectural resource that is sometimes taken for granted. Just like the air we breathe, we are all aware of the existence of light, but rarely do we seek to do anything else with it. It is essential to recognize its presence as an enabler of experiences in space, due to its intrinsic relationship with architecture and human beings.
The incidence of light in architecture directly influences the way we perceive the passage of time. Since ancient times, constructions such as ziggurats have integrated strategies to capture the changing daylight through their roofs, evolving and remaining present in modern constructions such as the Villa Savoye. More recently, the flatness of roofs in contemporary buildings has been a great resource for incorporating architectural elements that also allow them to be inhabited, such as roof access hatches, which serve as a link between natural light and roof terraces.
Below, we review some of the latest technologies in skylights and access hatches, such as those developed by LAMILUX.
In each region of the globe, vernacular constructions of the most varied kind emerged, whether buried underground, inside caves or even built with stones, wood and fabrics. Shelter solutions were based on available materials and weather conditions. The architecture arises from the development of these shelters, built to protect people from predators and the weather.
The construction solutions employed thousands of years ago have evolved and become increasingly complex but kept a common goal: dealing with the weather.
The year 2022 was marked by several socio-cultural and economic crises across the globe, from the Russian invasion of Ukraine to the increasing cost of living worldwide, combined with a number of natural disasters such as the devastating floods in Pakistan and hurricane Ian in the US. In these difficult times, architects are stepping up and embracing their role in developing design-based solutions to humanitarian crises, ranging from temporary shelters and affordable housing schemes to centers for protecting at-risk groups such as homeless underage girls, children from low-income environments, or families in need of medical care.
This week's curated selection of Best Unbuilt Architecture highlights projects submitted by the ArchDaily community that engage with their local communities, offering safe spaces for disadvantaged and at-risk groups. From a sanctuary for homeless girls in Iraq to an affordable housing project in Prague’s first skyscraper, this selection features projects centered around people, their needs, and desires. Many of the projects employ local materials such as clay bricks to lower the construction costs. They also reuse existing buildings and hope to engage the local community in building and appropriating the proposed spaces.
Glass is one of the most important discoveries of mankind. Originally used as a cutting tool, it has been around for about 75,000 years. The first records of glass making, however, date back to the Egyptian and Mesopotamian. Since then, the mastery of the manufacturing technique has been developing in different civilizations and nations until the Industrial Revolution popularized the material and allowed its production on a large scale. In architecture, glass was first used as a sealing element around 100 AD.
Besides reflecting the aspirations of a society, public spaces also configure the scenarios in which new ideas of coexistence and the collective can emerge from their qualities. Thinking about the streets, squares, parks, and even nature is a way of dealing with common ideals and ensuring the social dynamics in the relationship between bodies and the environment.
For every car that drives on the road, we need to find a place to put it- but are parking garages the answer? Parking garages are often seen as the antithesis of people-friendly urban planning. Large gray boxes are used solely to store cars that make temporary visits and seem like a poor use of space, especially in cities where land comes at a premium. Because of these garages, urban cores have quickly been transformed into parking districts, where vehicle storage dominates the aesthetic of a business district. Building codes only contribute to the problem, where the number of spaces is passed down as a mandate, even spreading out into suburban areas. Parking garages are everywhere- flanking shopping malls, connecting to residential towers, and surrounding sporting venues.
Hulking, imposing, and utilitarian, silos are an enduring urban feature, structures typically used for the storage of materials in bulk. They are important physical elements of the agricultural industry, storing grain, fermented feed, and other foodstuffs. These tall, typically cylindrical forms remain the subject of architectural fascination — from being symbols of technological progress for Modernist architectural figures of the early 20th century, to in contemporary times, instigating inventive approaches to adaptive reuse.
Le Corbusier once described architecture as “a learned game, correct and magnificent, of forms assembled in the light.” Natural light –and its accompanying shadow– plays a crucial role in shaping our perception of architecture, serving a long list of functions that define how users experience, engage and interact with buildings. From illuminating and accentuating to enhancing views and evoking warmth, the presence of daylight has the power to set a room’s tone and aesthetic language. It even has a significant impact on human health and well-being, including boosting mood and productivity, regulating circadian rhythms and reducing eyestrain and headaches –it makes our lives brighter, literally.
The use of translucent materials in Brazilian architecture has been a growing trend in recent years. Translucent laminated glass, polycarbonate and acrylic are just a few of them. They have different advantages and disadvantages regarding cost, impact resistance, and thermal and acoustic insulation. What outlines the common benefit between them is the constant dialogue they provide between interior and exterior.
Residential swimming pools are nothing new, but they have become an unique component of modern living. Increasingly popularized, pools became a status symbol and a residential recreation element. Today, private swimming pools can be found across the world, and in many different climates. As more pools were built, so too were structures that could house equipment and pool amenities, as well as guest rooms or living quarters. These “poolhouses” were designed as spaces for accommodation, storage, and maintenance.
This article was originally published on Common Edge.
Today we know R. Buckminster Fuller primarily through his oeuvre of iconic objects and ideas created over the arc of a nearly 90-year life. Born in the last decade of the 19th century, Fuller lived long enough to hang out with Steve Jobs. He’s variously described as a “systems thinker,” perhaps the first “futurist,” a visionary, engineer, geometer, and architect (he won the AIA Gold Medal in 1970). But “inventor” is probably the most accurate description. Historian and writer Alec Nevala-Lee’s 2022 biography, aptly titled Inventor of the Future: The Visionary Life of Buckminster Fuller (Dey St. Books), tells a nuanced story of the man known for geodesic domes; space frames; “Spaceship Earth”; the Dymaxion map, house, and car; and concepts such as tensegrity, synergy, and “ephemeralization” (“doing everything with nothing at all,” as he described it).
In any city, cultural centers can play a significant role in preserving and celebrating the community’s heritage and history, officing space for a vast array of activities and initiatives to encourage social interaction and the sharing of ideas and memories. They are also institutions that promote education and learning, often offering classes, workshops, and lectures on various topics related to culture, history, and the arts. By fulfilling these crucial roles within a given community, they can also become attractive centers for tourists eager to learn about local identities, cultures, and traditions.
This week’s curated selection of Best Unbuilt Architecture highlights designs submitted by the ArchDaily community dedicated to cultural institutions. From a multifunctional cultural center in Buenos Aires to a cultural storage facility in South Korea or a timber-clad library in Vietnam, this selection features projects that aim to encourage communities to come together to celebrate their shared cultures and histories. The article includes projects from offices such as LOOP Architects, Eddea, Salon Alper Derinboğaz, and Boozhgan Architecture Studio.
Appropriate fittings are as crucial to interior design as any other prominent feature, enhancing aesthetic appeal and providing the finishing touches to a space. Considered spaces where some of our most basic needs are met, kitchens are ideally designed to suit the lifestyles of its inhabitants, and can include customized fittings with diverse faucet systems, functions and finishes. Seeking style and functionality, we showcase a round-up of Dornbracht’s latest series of kitchen faucets, which seamlessly integrate cutting-edge refinements with timeless design to create versatile living spaces.
Brutalism is a deeply dividing architectural style - a subcategory of the Modernist movement that featured bare concrete finishes, unusual shapes, and an undoubtedly unique aesthetic. Whilst emerging into prominence in 1950s Great Britain, the most iconic examples of this architectural style are arguably found in Eastern Europe - particularly in the territory formerly known as Yugoslavia.
Whenever light falls on a surface there will be a shadow, no matter how insignificant its focus is. The outline will hardly be visible, but other shapes will come to the fore in this play of light and dark. In the case of being projected by solar dance, a latent dynamic is added to the shadows that can be used to intensify everyday phenomena, breaking the monotony of space. Orthogonal openings in a long corridor or woven pieces in a courtyard are examples of constructive elements that create patches of light and shadow, bringing in addition to aesthetic delight and thermal comfort to its users. In this way, it becomes evident that these intangible elements are essential parts of an environment that, long before Louis Kahn declared the power of shadows, was already being manipulated.
As trivial as the act of flipping a switch and lighting up a room may seem, we've had to come a long way to have safe and reliable light sources. It is estimated that the first lamps were invented 70,000 years ago, consisting of hollowed out stones or shells filled with an absorbent material soaked with animal fat that could be ignited. The Egyptians, on the other hand, used decorated ceramic vessels filled with oil, which provided a constant flame. Candles were popularized during the Middle Ages, made of tallow (animal fat) or beeswax, and could be burned in simple candlesticks and chandeliers. It was in the late 19th century that Thomas Edison and his team invented an incandescent light bulb that could be mass manufactured and was economically viable, soon becoming the dominant form of lighting for much of the 20th century. Although it was a revolutionary invention at the time, we are now aware that these lightbulbs are not very efficient, and they were eventually replaced by fluorescent and, more recently, LED bulbs. But if we have already advanced so much in such a short time, what can we expect for the future of lighting, and more specifically, how will our interiors be lit in a few years or decades?
David Chipperfield, laureate of the 2023 Pritzker Prize, has designed over a dozen museums throughout his career, with some still under construction. As a typology that has significant urban and social impact, Chipperfield and his team have skillfully leveraged each commission to transform neighborhoods and cities while still honoring the essence of the place and what was there before. His museums make powerful statements without being obtrusive, and this is reflected in the choice of materials and the construction solutions used.
Like an oversized minimalism, Chipperfield gives the materials space to unfold and be understood. In his galleries and museums, the materials appear exposed, clean, and highlighted through contrast. They give character to the space while giving prominence to the art on display, generating suitable atmospheres for its proper appreciation. Regularity, continuity, and repetition help shape this background, while the filtered light finishes building the right scene.
Higher noise emissions, higher wind loads and a desire for greater energy efficiency – the structural requirements for façades in multi-storey residential buildings and skyscrapers are becoming increasingly demanding, for both new builds and renovations. This is the result of the urban densification that is taking place in response to the acute lack of available housing and the more extreme weather conditions brought about by climate change.
Sunshine has been an integral part of life ever since the sun and the earth began their merry dance. The feel-good ambiance provided by natural light is a recurring theme in human culture, from popular music, fashion, and photography, to our most luxurious environments.
But our bodies’ craving for sunlight is more than just a feeling. Scientific research has proven it helps our bodies to produce more melatonin which aids sleep and reduces stress, vitamin D which improves immunity and strengthens bones, and serotonin which fights depression. As well as helping us to live healthier and happier lives, research suggests the sun also helps us to live longer, too.
