The American Midwest is making a new name for itself. While cities like New York and Los Angeles are known as global design capitals, dynamic modern architecture has begun emerging across the country’s fly-over states. Advocating world-class architecture, sustainability, and craft, Kansas City has become a leader in great American design.
The 18th International Architecture Exhibition, curated by Ghanaian-Scottish architect, educator, and novelist Lesley Lokko – who is also Founder and Director of the African Futures Institute (AFI) based in Accra, Ghana – officially opened to the public on May 20th and is now on view through Nov. 26. Entitled The Laboratory of the Future, this year's Venice Architecture Biennale for the first time highlights the African continent as a leading force in shaping the world to come and Lokko's curatorial mission prompts entries to question traditional notions of what the future can hold and what architecture looks like.
Incorporating indoor-outdoor living into a home isn’t just limited to warm climates and beach front properties. Connecting homes to nature through copious amounts of glass creates serene environments while maintaining stable home temperatures. Below, see how five homes utilize sliding glass doors regardless of the weather, while maintaining energy performance.
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.
URB has revealed 'Dubai Reefs,' a floating living lab designed to restore marine ecosystems and promote ecotourism. The project's primary objective is to generate over 30,000 employment opportunities within a green economy in the city. Dubai Reefs encompasses a sustainable floating community dedicated to marine research, regeneration, and ecotourism, comprising residential, hospitality, retail, educational, and research facilities.
Over time, the space of the bathroom in the domestic sphere has increasingly gained importance. Nowadays, it is conceived as a space for well-being and health, where one can have an experience that meets the needs and requirements of its users. Beyond the different technologies implemented, the designs applied, or the materials used, architects and designers demonstrate, day by day, the multiple configurations and arrangements that these spaces can adopt through their projects, developing strategies both on an aesthetic and design level, as well as on a technical and functional level.
Fractals are complex geometric shapes with fractional dimensional properties. They have emerged as swirling patterns within the frontiers of mathematics, information technology, and computer graphics. Over the last 30 years, these patterns have also become important modeling tools in other fields, including biology, geology, and other natural sciences. However, fractals have existed far beyond the birth of computers, and have been observed by anthropologists in indigenous African societies. One of which is Ron Eglash; an American scientist who presents the evidence of fractals in the architecture, art, textile sculpture, and religion of indigenous African societies. In his book, “African Fractals: Modern Computing and indigenous design”, the fractals in African societies are not simply accidental or intuitive but are design themes that evolve from cultural practices and societal structures.
This article was originally published on Common Edge.
It’s here! The 21st-century digital renaissance has just churned out its latest debutante, and its swanky, sensational entrance has sent the world into an awed hysteria. Now sashaying effortlessly into the discipline of architecture, glittering with the promise of being immaculate, revolutionary, and invincible: ChatGPT. OpenAI’s latest chatbot has been received with a frenzied reception that feels all too familiar, almost a déjà vu of sorts. The reason is this: Every time any technological innovation so much as peeks over the horizon of architecture, it is immediately shoved under a blinding spotlight and touted as the “next big thing.” Even before it has been understood, absorbed, or ratified, the idea has already garnered a horde of those who vouch for it, and an even bigger horde of those who don’t. Today, as everyone buckles up to be swept into the deluge of a new breakthrough, we turn an introspective gaze, unpacking where technology has led us, and what more lies in store.
As societies evolve, educational facilities also undergo continuous transformation processes to keep up. In terms of their design strategies, they must embrace modern approaches that respond to the changing needs of students and teachers. Including flexible, inclusive, and engaging spaces that seamlessly integrate technological advances, contemporary educational design aims to enhance learning and collaborative work, as well as comfort and wellbeing.
Kalwall focuses on developing forward-thinking solutions for human-centered design that address these evolving needs, while responding to a tight budget. Through a collaborative strategy with architecture and engineering projects, they focus on four ways to design optimal learning environments, including daylight design, energy efficiency, safety, and cost savings through renovation and installation.
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.
Architects often face the challenge of effectively communicating their designs to clients, as architectural design is a complex process that involves numerous technical details and decisions. Current methods of presenting architectural designs, such as 2D drawings or renders can be limiting. In addition, clients may not have the same level of understanding of architectural concepts and may find it difficult to envision the final outcome leading to misunderstandings, delays and costly revisions.
To overcome these challenges, architects have increasingly turned to Virtual Reality (VR). However, the limitations of most Virtual Reality software to show photorealistic designs without requiring complicated VR setups has been a challenge.
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.
Small homes are a common reality in many urban areas around the world for various reasons. These homes made up of small houses or compact apartments, have become increasingly popular due to the shortage of land and high housing prices in urban areas. Although their size may be limited, contemporary architecture practices focus on intelligent designs to maximize available space and offer comfort to their inhabitants. They often offer efficient layouts, with multifunctional areas that adapt to needs. In addition, some of them integrate innovative design and furniture solutions to optimize space and provide additional storage.
Contemporary bamboo buildings may initially appear overwhelming to the novice observer. Yet, as you learn more about the structural logic of these inspiring edifices, you'll quickly realize that most employ one or a blend of the structural systems we're about to explore. The mystery unravels, transforming what once seemed complex into a clear composition of simple concepts. This article shines a light on four commonly employed structural systems in bamboo construction:
Herzog & de Meuron has been honored as the 36th Louis I. Kahn Award winner by the Center for Architecture and Design in Philadelphia. The annual award, founded in 1983 in memory of Philadelphia architect Louis Kahn, celebrates individuals who have made significant contributions to the field of architecture. Jaques Herzog, one of the two founders of the Swiss-based architecture firm, will present a talk on behalf of this office during the official award ceremony, to be held at the University of Pennsylvania’s Museum of Anthropology and Archeology at 6:30 pm on May 31, 2023.
While the kitchen is a ubiquitous part of almost every home—and, in many cases, is considered symbolic of domestic living entirely—it can also take up precious space, produce visual clutter, and detract from the minimalist aesthetic of an otherwise sleek, modern home. For some homeowners, the solution is simply to keep the kitchen clean and organized at all times. But for some innovative contemporary architects and their clients, the solution is to design a compact, concealable kitchen that can quickly and easily be shuttered out of view. Below, we discuss several examples of hidden kitchens, as well as some common techniques and strategies for designing them.
Preserve, disseminate, and create cultural expressions. When we visit museums, galleries, libraries, and various cultural centers, we understand other worldviews. This is how we broaden our subjectivity and empathy and gain new knowledge. In Portugal, a country with a millennial history that crosses various cultural layers, from food to the arts, there is constant investment in equipment that helps share and reinforce its past and present. And, as expected, architecture is fundamental to lace these narratives.
Can current design and manufacturing technologies be incorporated into vernacular and traditional construction techniques? On the IE University campus in Segovia, a group of researchers from IE University, Princeton University, and the University of Bergamo built an unreinforced masonry structure called innixAR that demonstrates how digital technologies can enhance craftsmanship. This pavilion explores the intersection between the latest augmented reality (AR) innovations and 4D funicular design to allow vault craftsmen to build masonry structures without the need for physical guides and costly temporary molds.
The Media Architecture Biennale 2023 (MAB23) takes place June 14-15 (online) and June 21-23 (in-person) in Toronto, Canada. The event, which features keynotes, roundtables, and awards, aims to offer a platform for communities of research and practice concerned with media and the built environment. MAB23 will bring together students, academics, and professionals from architecture, art, design, urban planning, media and communication, urban informatics, and public policy to share new ideas and shape this evolving field.
Italian architect and architecture historian Paolo Portoghesi, the first director of the Venice Architecture Biennale, passed away at the age of 92 in Calcata, Italy, as reported by the organization today, Tuesday, May 30.
Introducing high school students to their potential future careers is key in helping them to envision how the next years of their lives may be. With an immersive four-week summer program, Design Immersion Days (DID) gives an insight into design and architecture experimentation to high school students. Aiming to inspire their curiosity about architecture, the program’s proposal integrates the introduction of basic design knowledge and critical thinking skills, as well as familiarizing them with the wider architecture and design culture of Los Angeles.
Known for their innovative approach, SCI-Arc is characterized for encouraging their students to take the lead in reimagining the limits of architecture. Through their Youth and Summer Programs, they start building connections –both locally and internationally– with those interested in a future inside the discipline and provide them with design tools and architectural thinking.
Foster + Partners’ project for BENCH, one of the Philippines’ leading clothing and lifestyle brands, has started construction in Manila. The 24-storey headquarters building offers offices, design studios, event spaces, and the necessary amenities to create an enjoyable environment for the company’s employees. Located on the east-west axis in the Bonifacio Global City, the building opens up the ground floor to create a visual connection to the green space surrounding it.
On Thursday, May 18, the Government of Mexico, through the Secretariat of Culture, celebrated the inauguration of the Mexican Pavilion at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Biennale 2023, with the proposal "Utopian Infrastructure: The Campesino Basketball Court". The pavilion, which had an investment of 9,059,600 pesos, aims to invite dialogue and play to engage in conversations about the topics that concern the world of architecture in relation to various aspects of social, cultural, and political life.
Architecture reconciles the sense of belonging and dignity of space. In addition to designing residential or cultural facilities, addressing public space in communities that inhabit vulnerable areas is also urgent and necessary to provide a dignified infrastructure that provides quality of life for the population. Therefore, we have gathered seven interventions in marginalized territories that show the potential for transformation from the space itself.
