Amsterdam-based architecture firm ZJA has unveiled the winning proposal for a new architectural landmark and "dune landscape" along the Belgian coast. Submitted as part of the Nautilus consortium, the design aims to seamlessly connects the building with its surrounding landscape in the municipality of Middelkerke. The project also hopes to work on flood risk management and make the seawall car-free to connect Epernay square to the sea.
For many, the aesthetics of wood are powerfully enchanting. With a huge diversity of species and innumerable variations in colors, weights, and textures, wood is one of the most highly appreciated materials of all time. But the unrestrained logging of forests for use in construction has had and will continue to have enormous environmental impacts if precautions such as sustainable management, legitimate certification, or reforestation are not taken. Being an organic material, when used for construction, wood tends to morph under conditions of humidity, heat, and loads, and its fibers eventually deform over time. In addition, wood is a material that does not respond well to environments where it is soaked and dried repeatedly, which can cause it to rot after some time if it is not adequately waterproofed. Therefore, there are some situations where using wood may not be a good idea.
The field of architecture has the potential to influence human relations in countless ways through the built space. In small-scale projects, in particular, the challenges of tackling the dialogue between the space and the individual are combined with the task of conveying ideas to inspire people to explore the use of these minimal spaces.
Stairways are central to access and mobility within a space, and yet, they often take a backseat to other elements of design within a work of architecture. However, Mexican firm PRODUCTORA has put them at the forefront of many of their projects, notably the Teopanzolco Cultural Center.
This year the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has been looking at tourism as a way to create jobs and opportunities in rural areas under the banner of Tourism and Rural Development.
Rural based Architecture and traditional edifices play an important role in showcasing local heritage building and craftsmanship. It can also offer jobs and prospects outside of big cities particularly for the communities that might otherwise be left behind.
The Midnight Charette is an explicit podcast about design, architecture, and the everyday. Hosted by architectural designers David Lee and Marina Bourderonnet, it features a variety of creative professionals in unscripted conversations that allow for thoughtful takes and personal discussions. A wide array of subjects are covered with honesty and humor: some episodes provide useful tips for designers, while others are project reviews, interviews, or explorations of everyday life and design. The Midnight Charette is also available on iTunes, Spotify, and YouTube.
This week David and Marina discuss strategies for giving a convincing design/architecture presentation. The two cover the different outcomes of a presentation, the pros and cons of different formats (slideshow and boards) and how they can best be used, key words that should not be used, dealing with questions, how to be convincing, how to sell a key point, what content should come first, understanding the audience, preparation, and more. Enjoy!
Urban acupuncture is a design tactic promoting urban regeneration at a local level, supporting the idea that interventions in public space don’t need to be ample and expensive to have a transformative impact. An alternative to conventional development processes, urban acupuncture represents an adaptable framework for urban renewal, where highly focused and targeted initiatives help regenerate neglected spaces, incrementally deploy urban strategies, or consolidate the social infrastructure of a city.
Sir David Adjaye has created an inclusive new vision for Princeton University Art Museum’s new building. Located at the heart of the campus, the project will replace and roughly double the square footage of the existing facility. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2021 with an anticipated opening in late 2024.
Shigeru Ban, Pritzker Prize-winner, and Ole Scheeren, RIBA silver medalist, were appointed for the Hangzhou Wangjiang New Town master plan. Creating new art and cultural destination in the historical city, the project in collaboration with New World Development and K11 Group seeks to build a landmark that meets the needs of the new generation.
The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia has announced three finalists in the competition to create a new gallery along the Halifax waterfront. As a central component of a new arts district, the design will be part of a larger public gathering place along the Salter Block that showcases contemporary art and public programs. The design aims to increase opportunities to access and experience art, celebrate diverse stories through the arts, and enhance the waterfront experience.
Despite the ongoing pandemic, IE University has found a way to welcome 7,000 students from 140 different nationalities back to their physical and digital campuses. Since the start of the crisis, the institution has been working to protect the health of their community of students, professors and staff. They guaranteed the continuity of academic activity through online platforms during the weeks of confinement by incorporating new methodologies and interactive solutions.
In Mexico, self-construction has been a topic heated debate between its advocates and opponents; however, this doesn't diminish its prevalence throughout Mexico and the world. Over the past few years, initiatives on the part of architects have driven the creation of instruction manuals for do-it-yourself builders as a way to promote health and safety in self-construction and to also provide insight into building materials and techniques. In many ways, the initiative has improved the self-construction process, a fact evident in the increasingly visible creations seen throughout Mexico.
This article was originally published on Common Edge as "Why Don’t We Teach Chinese Architecture?"
How many U.S. architecture professors know that there is a Chinese treatise equivalent to Vitruvius’ Ten Books of Architecture? Very few, I suspect. I taught architectural history for more than 20 years before I discovered the marvelous Yingsao Fashi, a Song Dynasty book by a prominent court official who, as far as we know, was not an architect or builder. In fact, prior to the Ming Dynasty no prominent temple, palace, or shrine in China was designed by an architect because the concept of a single mastermind in charge of a building project was foreign to the East Asian way of designing environments of any kind.
British researcher Darmon Richter has completed a series of journeys into the Exclusion Zone of Chernobyl. Captured through the book Chernobyl: A Stalkers’ Guide, Richter's documentation explores an area the size of a small country, and in turn, ventures deeper than any previously published account. Through a series of photographs, his work reveals forgotten ghost towns and monuments lost deep in irradiated forests.
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Heatherwick Studio has designed the Cove, a new waterfront experience for San Francisco. Seeking to activate and improve the beachfront, “while future-proofing the historic district and the City against the risks of earthquakes and climate change”, the Cove will put in place a next-generation, high-performance waterfront community that uniquely identifies with San Francisco.
Zaha Hadid Architects has revealed its design for the 36-story Murray Road project for Henderson Land, in the heart of Hong Kong’s central business district. Creating new civic plazas enveloped by nature, the urban oasis is located in proximity to both Central and Admiralty MTR metro stations.
The Deutsches Architekturmuseum (DAM) have named five finalists for the International Highrise Award (IHP) 2020. Selected from 31 nominated highrises in 14 countries, the projects include towers by Zaha Hadid Architects, BIG, SOM, OMA and Heatherwick Studio. The IHA is considered the world's most important architecture award for high-rise buildings.
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For almost two decades, Wienerberger AG has been hosting the international Brick Award every two years, providing a stage for excellent brick architecture and its architects. Architects from all over the world showcase their innovative concepts with ceramic materials: 644 projects from 55 countries have been submitted for this year's award. The winners of the Brick Award 20 impressed the jury with bold and creative architectural concepts for sustainable and forward-looking spaces.
Hydraulic tiles are tiles produced entirely by hand with cement-based raw materials. Created in the mid-1800s in Spain, and widely used in Europe and America, it is a versatile option that can not only be applied in public areas, such as squares and sidewalks, but also interiors, including floors, walls, and furniture. Their versatility stems from the fact that they are highly customizable, from their colors and patterns to their geometry and dimensions. Read below a mostly technical explanation of these tiles, their manufacture, and their installation.
Beginning with the moral indignation expressed in Adolf Loos’s 1910 lecture “Ornament and Crime” and Le Corbusier’s 1925 The Decorative Art of Today, decoration has been attacked from every possible angle. Driven by the heroic male architect, Modernist dictates of good design—functionalism, truth to materials, purity of form—quickly took over and continue to be the dominant ideology today in the way architecture and interiors are taught and practiced. If Modern architecture was rational, masculine, and structural, then decoration was considered emotional, feminine, and shallow. Or, according to Loos, it was flat-out degenerate.
The Fundació Mies van der Rohe and Creative Europe have announced the 9 finalist projects competing to win the Asian Edition of Young Talent Architecture Award 2020 (YTAA 2020). Established in 2016, the YTAA “supports the talent of recently graduated Architects, Urban Planners and Landscape Architects who will be responsible for transforming our environment in the future."
In 2012, Belgian software developers Peter Eerlings and Jerry De Paepe were contacted by an architecture firm looking for a solution to simplify their field reports. Creating field reports was an extremely time-consuming activity for them: first, writing down notes on paper and taking photos during a site visit. Back at the office, transferring the photos to the PC with a cable. Next, adding annotations to photos with Paint, deciphering and typing out the handwritten notes, struggling with the layout while inserting photos in Word, and so on. Over and over again. It was an administrative hassle that easily took more than an hour for each field report - sometimes two or three.
The Fundació Mies van der Rohe and Creative Europe have announced the 12 finalist projects competing to win the Young Talent Architecture Award 2020 (YTAA 2020) and the 9 finalist projects competing to win the Asian Edition of YTAA 2020. Established in 2016, the YTAA “supports the talent of recently graduated Architects, Urban Planners and Landscape Architects who will be responsible for transforming our environment in the future."
The Un-Habitat or the United Nations agency for human settlements and sustainable urban development, whose primary focus is to deal with the challenges of rapid urbanization, has been developing innovative approaches in the urban design field, centered on the active participation of the community. ArchDaily has teamed up with UN-Habitat to bring you weekly news, article, and interviews that highlight this work, with content straight from the source, developed by our editors.
“People all over the world are increasingly demanding a say in the way that their cities are planned and designed”.For our third collaboration, discover UN-HABITAT’s guideline on achieving quality public spaces, a site-specific assessment consisting of a series of activities and tools that help understand the quality of the selected area and plan future design and planning solutions on the site through participatory approaches. Focusing on open public space, within a five minutes walking distance, the guide helps users gather and analyze information, creating a logical transition from needs to design.
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