Riccardo De Cal presents his exhibition Into the Labyrinth at Fondazione Querini Stampalia in Venice, Italy. The exhibition will include 20 photographs, primarily selected from De Cal's new publication Dream of Venice Architecture. Inspired by novelist Jorge Luis Borges's statement that the maze, "is a building built to confuse people," De Cal has created an interior environment of metal armatures, audio recordings and photography. Designed by Melissa Siben, the exhibit is a modern three-dimensional representation of the labyrinthine structure of the city of Venice.
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LiFE Presents Neocodomousse, an Exhibition by Raumlaborberlin
In partnership with Le Grand Café Contemporary Art Centre in Saint-Nazaire, LiFE presents, from 3 June to 9 October, Neocodomousse, an exhibition by raumlaborberlin, a Berlin based network-collective of nine trained architects. Raumlaborberlin is a collective of nine architects, city planners and artists. Their name could translate as both space and laboratory: a neologism referencing to experimentation and empirical research, guided by a community manufacturing process.
These Are the World's Oldest Cities
Have you ever wondered which are humanity's oldest cities? Matador Network has compiled a list of the world's ancient metropolises, and perhaps unsurprisingly, nearly all of them are within or adjacent to the Fertile Crescent, a moon-shaped region running from the Persian Gulf through what is today the south of Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, and the Nile River Delta in Egypt. With settings that range from hamlets on the road less traveled, like Susa, Iran, and Sidon, Lebanon, to cities that hold international renown as trade and migratory crossroads, like Beirut and Damascus, these places share an ability to endure through the highs and lows of fortune and conflict. This factor of longevity is all the more remarkable considering that the youngest locales date from 3,000 BC and others extend back another 6,000 years.
Find the complete list of cities on Matador Network, here.
Norman Foster on the Boeing 747 "Jumbo Jet"
In an article for Reading Design, Norman Foster—a passionate aeronaut—describes how the groundbreaking design of the Boeing 747 "Jumbo Jet," the iconic airplane envisioned by engineer Joseph "Joe" Sutter in the 1960s, remains timeless. Likening both its method of construction and means of operation to that of a typical building, Foster asserts that it speaks of "the international hotel style," which he supposes as appropriate: "people come and go, it does not have a great deal of character and it could be almost anywhere."
Financial Times Article Details How Biomimicry Can be Applied to Architecture
In a recent article published by the Financial Times, architect and public speaker Michael Pawlyn delves into how biomimicry can be applied to architecture in order to solve design problems and create a more sustainable future. Even in very early examples, biomimicry has been critical in the development of architecture, for example when Filippo Brunelleschi studied eggshells to create a thinner and lighter dome for his cathedral in Florence. In a modern example, biomimicry has been utilized—through the examination of termite mounds—to create cool environments without air conditioning in warm climates such as in Zimbabwe.
Alejandro Aravena's Downloadable Housing Plans and the Real Meaning of "Open-Source Urbanism"
Earlier this year, we reported that 2016 Pritzker Prize winner Alejandro Aravena announced that his practice, ELEMENTAL, released four of their social housing designs available to the public for open source use. A recent article published by Urbanisms in beta discusses what exactly “open source use” means to the architecture world, and how we may see these designs applied to projects in the future.