In this week's reprint, author Walter Jaegerhaus explores the U.S. housing challenge, drawing a timeline of the evolution of different architectural solutions, from around the world. Seeking to "inspire designers today to create new housing options", and hoping "that the U.S can again embrace its experimental origins and try out new ideas and methods", the article highlights examples from Europe and the Americas.
Completed in 2020, amidst the pandemic, ANOHA- The Children’s World designed by Olson Kundig for the Jewish Museum in Berlin is finally opening its doors to the young public. The design reinterprets the myth of Noah’s Ark and furthers the concept and ideas of a similar installation at Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles, created by the firm then named Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen. More than a museum experience, the project is a space for community building, a place for imagination and play that enacts a universal story, creating an inclusive environment for children and families of all cultures and backgrounds.
The Berlinische Galerie's exhibition Anything Goes? recounts how a global, contradictory Postmodernism took root on both sides of the Berlin Wall in the 1980s. Florian Heilmeyer in his piece originally published on Metropolis discusses the ambitious exhibition that was able to look simultaneously at both sides of the German city at that time.
Benin's National Assembly in Porto-Novo Proposal. Image Courtesy of Kéré Architecture
Founder of the Berlin-based firm Kéré Architecture, Francis Kéré, has won the 2021 Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medal in Architecture. Presented by the University of Virginia and the Thomas Jefferson Foundation at Monticello, the award is one of four honors recognizing achievements in architecture, citizen leaderships, global innovation, and law. The Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medals recognize the exemplary contributions of recipients to the endeavors in which Jefferson excelled and held in high regard.
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Design proposal: Set design for “The Robot Salon”. Image Courtesy of Gili Ron and Irina Bogdan
Exploring the use of innovative technologies in architecture and practicing at the crossroads between art and spatial design, Gili Ron and Irina Bogdan have imagined project Galath3a, a woman-machine collaboration. The research-based venture uses a UR5 robotic arm named Gala (short for Galatea), to speculate on what is culturally considered as "womanly behavior".
Mad Arkitekter and Mud Landscape Architects, have won the international competition to design a vertical city quarter in Kreuzberg, Berlin. Selected from 14 submissions of well-known European architecture firms taking part in the contest, the proposal re-interprets the district in a vertical configuration. Set to be 98 meters high, with 29 floors, the Woho project will become Germany's tallest three-hybrid construction, once completed.
German design practice Barkow Leibinger has finally received a building permit for the Estrel Tower in Berlin, Germany. Set to become the city's tallest high-rise at 175 meters, the tower comes seven years after winning the initial competition. Construction is now set to start, and the project will be built on Sonnenallee in Neukölln. The design references the existing Estrel hotel und connects both into one unit.
Renovation works of Mies van der Rohe’s Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin are in their final phase. Overseen by David Chipperfield Architects, the restoration was much needed after almost 40 years. Set to reopen in the summer of 2021, the concrete, steel, and glass landmark, dedicated to culture and the fine arts, is in fact Mies van der Rohe’s only work in Germany after World War II.