How do we construct and maintain community centers for People of African Descent in Western contexts? What are the many potentials and challenges of such an endeavor? How do we incorporate the groundwork that has already been conducted elsewhere and which dimensions require special attention to honor the diversity of needs in our communities?
For a sustainable city, a transformation of the underlying system is necessary in addition to spatial changes. This leads to new typologies and forms for buildings, neighborhoods, and landscapes. We are currently overexploiting the urban body. How do we manage resources like energy, food, and materials, and how do we create an exchange of byproducts like waste and heat production? How do we respond to new digital measurement and processing techniques through Artificial Intelligence? The book delves into envisioning the future of sustainable cities and how we can design them. Difficult problems do not always require far-fetched solutions, but in order to arrive at the solution a change of perspective may be in order. The City as a System advocates such a change in perspective in urban research, arguing that designers must not only focus on the spatial manifestation of a city but also thoroughly investigate the underlying systems and the use and appearance of the urban fabric. This publication was made possible through the support of the Creative Industries Fund NL and the Van Eesteren-Fluck en Van Lohuizen Foundation.
Arnau Rovira is a photographer who found himself in Turkmenistan by accident. From Barcelona, he recalls the story of how he found himself in its capital, Ashgabat, accompanying sports journalists for the 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games. This Central Asian country, a former colony of the USSR, is known not only for its strict access and control restrictions but also for its white and golden structures that create a futuristic city near the border with Iran.
In charming Oberneukirchen, located in the Austrian countryside, architect Walter Kräutler and artist Sofie Thorsen have come together to transform the interior of the neo-Gothic village church in episode 10 of Opening up.
It could've been so kitsch. When you hear that a former prison has been transformed into a hotel, you'd be forgiven for imagining an incarceration-themed novelty destination, replete with door handles in the shape of handcuffs and complimentary striped pajamas.
The need for natural materials to replace synthetics in our homes is driving innovation in all areas of design. Typically high on plastic and glass content, lighting is particularly up for scrutiny. While some have provocatively returned to the likes of animal bladders in search of organic translucency, others have looked to natural fiber favorites such as rattan, cane and linen. For others, it’s a choice of minerals such as alabaster, whose properties allow for beautiful ambient diffusion of light. And the search goes on.
In ‘Reimagined Worlds: Narrative Placemaking for People, Play, and Purpose,’ Margaret Chandra Kerrison presents an indispensable manifesto, compelling designers of environments and experiences to embrace a people-centered approach fueled by intentional narratives. This thought-provoking book delves into the realm of uncharted possibilities, envisioning a world that fosters a deep sense of belonging and authentic expression. She shares her unique insights, drawing from her experiences as a former Walt Disney Imagineer and the 2023 Paul Helmle Fellow at Cal Poly Pomona’s Department of Architecture. By combining storytelling with architectural and experiential design, the book inspires the creation of meaningful places that cultivate strong communities and shared values. Through this narrative lens, she encourages us to imagine and build a world we truly desire to inhabit, one that thrives on collaboration and purposeful living.
Salty Urbanism is a concept that refers to the ways in which cities and urban areas will respond and adapt to rising sea levels and the accompanying increase in salinity of coastal and near-coastal land. This phenomenon is caused by a combination of factors, including global warming, sea-level rise, and human development along coastlines.
IE School of Architecture and Design is launching the fourth edition of their MBArch Entrepreneurship Challenge 2023 IV Edition. For optimistic and young entrepreneurial professionals with less than 15 years of experience, the challenge is geared toward those who have identified a relevant problem in their industry and would like the chance to solve it.
The International Prize for Architectural Restoration “Fassa Bortolo Domus Restoration and Preservation” was established for the purpose of rewarding and promoting architectural restoration works that have managed to best interpret the preservation principles including through the use of contemporary forms of expression. It was conceived and promoted in 2010 by Fassa S.r.l., owner of the Fassa Bortolo brand, and by the Ferrara University, Department of Architecture.
Shaping the City comes back to Venice this November
Following the success of previous editions in Venice, Chicago and New Orleans, the next chapter of Shaping the City, forum for sustainable cities and communities, is scheduled to take place in Venice for its 3rd edition in the floating city. The conference, curated by the European Cultural Centre as part of the public programme of its Venice Architecture Biennial exhibition titled Time Space Existence, will be held on 24 and 25 November in the iconic Palazzo Michiel del Brusà in Strada Nova, Cannaregio and online on the YouTube channel of ECC Italy.
Jonk is one of the most reputed photographers of abandoned places in the world. For the last ten years, he has travelled the planet, tracking them down. Through his passion for Urbex, he hopes to show how they are slowly transformed before finally disappearing. The impact of passing time is the central theme of the book. This quest for cracked walls, rusty iron and flaky paint has taken him across more than fifty countries. Today, Jonk gives us the very best of his urban explorations.
California, once the epitome of car culture, is now leading the green movement, transitioning away from the internal combustion engine and to some extent the car—and having to rethink how we live, as this extraordinary urban planning manifesto explores.
The Loop Project, the new book by MIAS Architects and published by Actar, is a collection of the last two decades of work and research done by the studio. The work cannot be explained solely as finished results but needs an understanding of the design process: everything that happens before the cranes arrive. The book illustrates the projects in their final state and in their conceptualization but also constitutes, in itself, an archive.
Surrounded by water and with a distinctly energetic vibe, Danish architecture studio BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group has based its new headquarters in Copenhagen's flourishing harbor district, Nordhavn. With its newly constructed office building, the design pioneers are striving to showcase the art of blending technology, innovation and creativity while also designing a space that nurtures inventiveness and fosters a sense of community in the workplace.
Photo credit: Atelier 66 architects’ 1982 visit to their Lyttos Hotel project in Anissara, Crete. Courtesy of Lucy and Giorgos Triantafyllou. Cover design: www.hayesdesign.co.uk
A critical reappraisal of one of the most popular architectural theories of the recent past on its fortieth anniversary.
![Building Black Spaces [Berlin, Germany] - Featured Image](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/6569/b92c/06a0/5e00/011c/462f/medium_jpg/EOTO_IG_CommUnity_BBS_1080x_v03_1.jpg?1701427543)
