Former ArchDaily's Managing Editor. BA in Architecture from Newcastle University, and interested in how overlooked elements of architectural culture —from the media to competitions to procurement processes can alter the designs we end up with.
A team lead by Arup has developed a method of designing and 3D Printing steel joints which will significantly reduce the time and cost needed to make complex nodes in tensile structures. Their research is being touted as "a whole new direction for the use of additive manufacturing" which provides a way of taking 3D printing "firmly into the realm of real-world, hard hat construction."
Aside from creating more elegant components which express the forces within each individual joint - as you can see in the above photo - the innovation could potentially reduce costs, cut waste and slash the carbon footprint of the construction sector.
Aerial view of Shelter's Masterplan for the Hoo Valley. Image Courtesy of Wolfson Economics Prize
The shortlist for the 2014 Wolfson Economics Prize has been announced, rewarding five teams who rose to the challenge to design new garden cities which address the UK's growing housing shortage. The topic of garden cities is becoming a major focus for the UK's planners and architects, with proposals by the government for a new garden town of 15,000 homes at Ebbsfleet providing the starting point for debate.
However despite the debate within the built environment professions, with some arguing that garden cities are best left in the past, a survey commissioned by the Wolfson Economics Prize in conjunction with the award found that 72% of the British public believed there was a serious shortage of housing in the UK, and 70% believed that garden cities were a better way of delivering this housing compared to how - and where - housing is currently delivered. The five shortlisted teams will receive £10,000 to further develop their proposals and aim for the grand prize of £250,000.
Following the news that Lloyd's of London is planning to leave it's Grade-I listed headquarters designed by Richard Rogers, Edwin Heathcote has written an interesting article asking whether the Lloyd's Building - along with some other more spectacular failures of 'iconic' commercial architecture - can teach us anything about how we ought to design buildings. He argues that while high-profile design serves developers well, tenants seem to prefer bland yet functional corporate buildings, leading Heathcote to ask: shouldn't we be seeking something in between? You can read the article in full here.
Given a cavernous gallery space at the Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade in São Paulo, artist Henrique Oliveira has created Transarquitetônica, a breathtaking installation from plywood, which fills the room with twisted tree roots large enough for gallery visitors to walk inside.
Read on after the break for more images of the installation, including photos of its construction
This year there are two new entries into the top 10, with Queen's University Belfast and Northumbria University bagging 5th and 6th respectively, replacing Oxford Brookes and Kent, who drop to 12th and 14th. Elsewhere, the Glasgow School of Art had a disappointing result dropping to 43rd, and the University of Greenwich has reacted positively to their last-place position from last year by rising to 21st.
Yesterday, US Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan announced OMA, BIG and four other teams as the winner of "Rebuild by Design", a competition aimed at rebuilding areas affected by Hurricane Sandy focusing on resilience, sustainability and and livability.
In total, HUD have allocated $920 million to the six projects in New York, New Jersey and Long Island to enable the completion of this vision.
Read more about the winning schemes after the break
Insurance firm Lloyd's of London has indicated that it plans to leave its famous Richard Rogers-designed headquarters, which it has occupied since construction ended in 1986. Lloyd's has recently been involved in talks with Henderson, the developer of Make Architects' Gotham City project which earlier this year gained planning permission for a site adjacent to their current headquarters.
More on the building's uncertain future after the break
With the London Festival of Architecture opening yesterday, this article in the London Evening Standard highlights just one of the many threads which make up this year's theme: the importance of foreign talent in making up London's cosmopolitan architectural culture. From Adam Caruso to Zaha Hadid, many of the city's biggest names have come from abroad to study and work in the UK, helping to make it one of the greatest centres for design in the world - but all this could be at risk from untenable housing prices and draconian new visa restrictions. You can read the full article here.
This interesting article by Oliver Wainwright at the Guardian reveals the trend in recent London architecture for "Shardettes" - smaller and usually cheaper imitations of Renzo Piano's famous design which Wainwright says "has become a beacon for designers bereft of inspiration." Highlighting four angular, glazed buildings that are either recently or partially constructed, he questions the quality of these miniature imitations and asks "is this Shardenfreude frenzy something to be welcomed?" You can read the full article here.
Plans to build a new soccer stadium in Miami have generated an argument this week between David Beckham, current city officials, and past city officials. The stadium, which will be home to a new Miami MLS team owned by ex-superstar Beckham, was originally proposed to occupy a site at PortMiami, with a design drawn up by Arquitectonica and 360 Architects. However, Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez had concerns over the location, and earlier this month convinced Beckham and his group to consider an alternative location, a disused boat slip between the American Airlines Arena and Museum Park.
Now a group including former mayor Manny Diaz and Alexander Cooper, the masterplan designer for Museum Park have issued a statement condemning the new plans and saying they are "not in harmony with the vision of Miami as a world class city with parks and open areas available for all."
With no casualties, last week's fire at the Glasgow School of Art, which caused significant damage to parts of the building and gutted Charles Rennie Mackintosh's canonical library room, will be remembered as a tragic event that robbed us of one of the best examples of Art Nouveau of its time. The intention of the Glasgow School of Art is to restore the building in the hope that in generations to come, the fire will be all but forgotten, a strategy which has been largely well received by the profession.
However, in the case of other fires things have not gone so smoothly: for millennia, fire has played a big role in determining the course of architectural history - by destroying precious artifacts, but often also by allowing something new to rise from the ashes. Read on after the break as we count down the top 10 fires that changed the course of architectural history.
After the tragic fire that tore through Charles Rennie Mackintosh's Glasgow School of Art last week, thoughts have now turned to the future of the building and the process of restoration. It seems that many people in the profession are in favour of a faithful restoration: John McAslan, who has previously worked on restoring one of Mackintosh's buildings in Northampton, saying that "it is not the time and place to interpret Mackintosh", and former GSA student and ex-director of FATSam Jacob commenting that the building "hadn't been turned into a museum piece" and therefore "a faithful restoration is exactly the right thing to do."
Though there has been one dissenting voice from George Cairns, a professor at Melbourne's RMIT who completed his PhD thesis on the building in 1992 and believes that a faithful restoration is impossible. In any case, this is what the Glasgow School of Art has resolved to do, and they have received a number of offers of help. Read on after the break to find out what's being done, and what you can do to help, after the break.
Foster + Partners' Previous Design for the 'Lusail Iconic Stadium' which formed part of Qatar's bid for the World Cup. Image Courtesy of Foster + Partners
In response to the UK Airports Commission's call for evidence, Foster + Partners has released a detailed feasibility study supporting their plans for a new airport on the Isle of Grain in the Thames Estuary. Their plan proposes a four-runway airport built on a 35 square kilometre platform constructed partially in the mouth of the Thames. The scheme is popularly called "Boris Island" thanks to its most prominent supporter, Mayor of London Boris Johnson.
Norman Foster said "Since the Airports Commission submission a year ago, the need for increased airport capacity has become even more urgent. It is time to get serious about the issue of airport capacity. Britain needs an effective long-term solution, not the usual short-term fix that is Heathrow’s proposed third runway. London today needs to follow in the footsteps of its nineteenth-century forebears and invest boldly in infrastructure. Only long-term thinking will properly serve the demands of our future generations."
Read on for a breakdown of the information contained in the report
Mecanoo has been selected to design the new Engineering campus at the University of Manchester. At a value of £200 million, the project will be the largest ever completed by the Dutch Practice in the UK - slightly larger than the popular Library of Birmingham which they completed last year - and will involve both new build elements and a renovation of the University's Grade-II Listed Oddfellows Hall. The new technology building is part of a larger £1 billion overhaul which the university aims to complete by 2020. You can find out more details at the Architects' Journal.
Steven Holl's design for Maggie's Centre St Bart's. Image Courtesy of Steven Holl Architects
Michael Hopkins has added his thoughts to the row over Steven Holl's plans for the New Maggie's Centre at St Bart's Hospital in London, with a letter to London City Planners saying that the design is in the wrong place and would ruin the setting of the 18th Century Great Hall. Hopkins, whose rival scheme received planning permission last month, says that the construction of the Maggie's Centre represented a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity" to restore the great hall to its original design which was only met by his plans to build the Maggie's centre in a different part of the St Bart's site.
.jpg?1401996770 "Courtesy of MAC USP via www.mac.usp.br")
