Architect, researcher, assistant lecturer at the Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning UTCN, Master’s Degree in Architecture and Urban Planning from the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca and KU Leuven. Based in Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has announced the 30 winners of the 2023 RIBA National Awards for Architecture, providing an insight into the country’s architecture, design, and social trends. Among the key themes observed this year, the need to rebuild communities and to find sustainable ways of practicing stand out as the main concerns of the participant architects. The response to these themes is varied, ranging from buildings that aim to offer opportunities for collaboration for students to creating stimulating social spaces for the elderly or providing creative programs at a neighborhood scale. All the projects selected have been in use for at least one year and have provided data regarding their environmental performance. Examples of sustainable design include both new buildings, following the Passivhaus certification, and renovation of existing structures.
Nieuwe Instituut in Rotterdam has inaugurated the ‘Water Cities Rotterdam. By Kunlé Adeyemi,’ a cultural project comprising of exhibitions along with several floating pontoons and artist installations that present the Nigerian-Dutch architect Kunlé Adeyemi’s waterfront designs in the Netherlands. The exhibition brings a seven-meter-high floating wooden pavilion on the institute’s outdoor ponds. Inside the pavilion, landscape architect and artist Thijs de Zeeuw has created an artwork to allow visitors to experience the pavilion from the perspective of nature while contemplating the consequences of building and living on the water for the surrounding ecology and biodiversity. The entire exhibition is on display at the Nieuwe Instituut until 22 October 2023.
As the challenges posed by climate change increase in number and intensity, it also heightens the need to find sustainable building practices that connect to ecosystems and livelihoods rather than harm them. While often overlooked in the search for innovation, vernacular architecture can offer answers to contemporary issues. This type of architecture not only relies on readily available locally sourced materials but also on indigenous knowledge of local conditions like sun orientation, wind patterns, ventilation needs, and the behavior of materials in time. Dr. Sandra Piesik, director and architect of 3 ideas, and founder of HABITAT Coalition, explores this potential in her newest book, 'Habitat: Vernacular Architecture for a Changing Climate.'
The University of Pennsylvania has unveiled Steven Holl Architects’ design for its new Student Performing Arts Center. The 37,300-square-foot building is set to offer dedicated and flexible spaces for over 70 student performing arts groups on campus, including dance, theater arts, a cappella groups, and musical ensembles. The proposal was informed by a study completed in 2019 by Penn’s University Life, which concluded that additional performance and rehearsal space was needed to meet current and future demand. The project is set to begin construction in 2024, with anticipated occupancy starting in winter 2027.
While exploring the 18th International Architecture Exhibition onsite in Venice, ArchDaily had the chance to speak with Jayden Ali and Joseph Henry, two of the co-curators of the British National Pavilion. The exhibition titled “Dancing Before the Moon” was created together with Meneesha Kellay and Sumitra Upham, and features creations from six designers and artists. As the curators explain, the aim of the installations is to expand the general understanding of what architecture is and to integrate it into a wider conversation with fashion, music, art, dance, and performance, rather than separating it as its own class of creativity. On June 20th, a few days after the conversation, the British National Pavilion was awarded a special mention at this year's award ceremony.
The Smithsonian Institution selected Perkins&Will to design the Bezos Learning Center at the National Air and Space Museum in located on the prominent National Mall in Washington D.C. Perkins&Will was one of the five shortlisted finalists for the competition. According to the Smithsonian, the selection was based on the architects’ ample experience in designing cultural and educational spaces, the reliability of their management team and the team’s aesthetic approach.
At the 18th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, The PhilippinesPavilion presents an exhibition that investigates the ecology and social implication of the Tripa de Gallina estuary in Manila. The body of water, once a mechanism for flood mitigation, has now become congested and polluted, affecting the lives of the nearby communities. The Pavilion aims to present the initiative that set out to gather and investigate the guts of the estuary and to work with the residents to find adequate and sustainable architectural solutions. Titled “Tripa de Gallina: Guts of Estuary,” the exhibition in Venice is co-curated by Architect Choie Funk and Sam Domingo and presents the work of the Architecture Collective, represented by Bien Alvarez, Matthew Gan, Ar. Lyle La Madrid, Noel Narciso and Arnold Rañada.
The China Philharmonic Concert Hall in Beijing, China, designed by MAD Architects led by Ma Yansong, is nearing completion. The design of the concert hall began with a competition, won by MAD in 2014. Upon completion, the 26,000-square-meter building will become the first permanent residence for the China Philharmonic Orchestra, transforming the area into a new locus for classical music and cultural exchange. The project is scheduled to be completed in 2024.
Construction has begun at the last remaining empty sites in Chengdu’s Jiaozi Park Financial and Business District, where MVRDV has designed a complex comprised of three mixed-use office towers and a conference center united by a ring-shaped plinth. The building shape and functional structure are informed by its surrounding context, with a retail village that references the traditional structures that were once located on the site.
The American Institute of Architects has elected Evelyn Lee as the 2025 President-elect. During the AIA annual meeting, Lee has been selected to take the position of 2024 First VP President-Elect, and afterward to become president in 2025. AIA has also elected Heather Philip-O'Neal to serve as Treasurer between 2024-2025, and Latoya N. Kamdang as the elected At-large Director.
Evelyn Lee is the Global Head of Workplace Strategy and Innovation at Slack Technologies, Founder of the Practice of Architecture, and Co-Host of the Podcast Practice Disrupted. She is also a member of the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA). From 2020 to 2021, she served as the first female Treasurer to the AIA National Board. She is also widely published, having managed a monthly column for Contract magazine, in addition to various other online publications, where she developed recurring content on the business of architecture. Additionally, Evelyn Lee has been featured as a speaker, panelist, and moderator at national design and architecture conferences, including AIA National Convention, Dwell on Design, and Women in Green.
Henning Larsen has been selected as the winner of an international competition for the design of Kurfürstendamm 231, a new mixed-use urban development in western Berlin, Germany. Other finalists in the competition included Cobe, David Chipperfield, and Mäckler Architekten. The winning concept centers the neighborhood around an urban courtyard which acts as a large-scale meeting place for the local community. Nine buildings define the courtyard, including the existing Agrippina House, which is set to be rehabilitated through the project.
Tour Triangle . Image Courtesy of Herzog & de Meuron
The city of Paris has officially reinstated a rule that limits the height of new buildings in the French capital to 37 meters, or 12 storeys. Among the factors for the decision was the controversy surrounding the construction of the 180-meter-tall Tour Triangle, designed by Herzog & de Meuron, which began in 2021 after more than a decade of legal battles and backlash. The new urban planning regulation is introduced as part of Mayor Anne Hidalgo's Local Bioclimatic Urban Plan, which aims to reduce Paris' carbon emissions.
On June 5, Apple launched Apple Vision Pro, a new type of spatial computer that uses augmented reality goggles to allow users to experience a blend between the digital and physical worlds. The device promises to offer its users an infinite canvas for apps, larger and more immersive than traditional displays, while allowing them to stay present and connected to others. It features visionOS, the first spatial operating system to create this new way of interacting with digital content. Previous concepts like the metaverse have promised to transform the way we experience digital worlds, with architects taking the opportunity to delve into the design of restriction-free virtual spaces. Could this new device bring new ways of experiencing three-dimensional spaces, to better integrate architecture with digital environments?
The Serpentine has announced the official opening of the 22nd Pavilion, designed by French-Lebanese architect Lina Ghotmeh, at Serpentine South on June 9th, 2023. The Pavilion is titled À table, a French invitation to sit down together at a table and engage in an open dialogue while sharing a meal. The interior space of the pavilion is defined by the large table that encircles the perimeter, offering an opportunity for conviviality and the sharing of ideas, concerns, joys, and traditions. The 300-square-meter structure, inspired by the architect’s Mediterranean heritage, is designed to be lightweight and fully demountable to ensure a minimal carbon footprint. The Serpentine Pavilion will be open and free of charge every day from June to October 2023.
New Skenderbeu Stadium / CEBRA. Image Courtesy of CEBRA
Danish architecture office CEBRA has won an international competition for the design of the new Skenderbeu Stadium in Korça, Albania. The winning proposal sets the 10,000-seat stadium in a lively neighborhood to create an engaging environment for fans, active citizens, businesses, and visitors of the Albanian city. The masterplan proposes buildings and alleys inspired by the Korça typologies to create a familiar cultural experience both in and around the stadium.
London Design Biennale has opened on June 1st, 2023, at Somerset House, bringing together participants from around the world to celebrate new forms of international cooperation through design. The Biennale, now in its fourth edition, will display more than 40 installations focused on the theme ‘The Global Game: Remapping Collaborations,’ chosen by this year’s Artistic Director, the Nieuwe Instituut, Instituut, led by Aric Chen. In addition to the national participants, the Eureka exhibition will showcase cross-disciplinary innovations from UK’s leading research centers.
At the beginning of 2022, curator Lesley Lokko announced the title of the 18th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia: “The Laboratory of the Future.” The theme’s intention is to highlight the African continent as the protagonist of the future, a place “where all these questions of equity, race, hope, and fear converge and coalesce,” in the words of the curator. As the fastest urbanizing continent, Africa is viewed as a land of potential, but also of challenges, where matters of racial equity and climate justice are played out with a significant impact on the world at large.
Yet in the late 1950s, another laboratory of the future was taking shape, one where the novel ideas of Modernism produced grand monumental designs and complete urban structures at an unprecedented scale: India. In the search for a modern and democratic image, the newly independent country welcomed Western architectural masters such as Le Corbusier and Louis I. Kahn and entrusted them with a wide range of commissions, from the urban layout of Chandigarh and its major governmental buildings to universities, museums, and smaller scale domestic projects. The result is a mixture of cultures, influencing one another to unexpected results.
The Office for Political Innovation, led by Andrés Jaque, collaborated with a network of activists and community representatives from Xholobeni (South Africa), experts in seismographs and transduction from Poland, researchers, sound editors, and prop makers to bring a research-based installation at the Arsenale of the 18th Venice Architecture Biennale. Titled ‘XHOLOBENI YARDS. Titanium and the Planetary Making of SHININESS / DUSTINESS,’ the intervention addresses architecture’s problematic fascination with shininess.
