Climate Crisis: The Latest Architecture and News

The climate crisis has made heatwaves more likely and more intense around the world. Record-breaking high temperatures are being reported across the world. According to international data, the first week of July 2023 was the hottest week on record, putting millions of people in danger. All throughout this summer, recurring heatwaves have been affecting large portions of Asia, Europe, and the United States, priming the land for fires in places like Greece, Spain, and Canada, triggering unhealthy air warnings, evacuations, and heat-related deaths. The increasingly threatening effects of the climate crisis are also felt in cities worldwide, as extreme heat proves to be a rapidly growing health risk to millions of urban dwellers.

Cities are on the front lines of this public health emergency. People living in urban areas are among the hardest hit when heatwaves happen, partly because of urban heat islands. This is a phenomenon that occurs when cities replace the natural land cover with dense concentrations of surfaces that absorb and retain heat, like pavements and buildings. Heat risk levels also vary by neighborhood, with less affluent and historically marginalized sectors being the most affected due to the density of the population, limited access to cooling systems, and the limited availability of green urban spaces.

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Cities are defined as densely populated geographic areas characterized by urban development. They serve as economic, political, and cultural centers, offering various services, infrastructure, and opportunities. However, urban densification has been associated with negative aspects such as health issues, pollution, and social problems. Countries like India and China, with their massive populations exceeding billions, face a significant demand for services and housing.

Recent research, including studies by institutions like the Berkeley Cool Climate Network, has brought about a paradigm shift in our perception of urban densification. This shift aims to reduce cities' carbon footprint and support collaborative efforts to achieve Sustainable Development goals. Densification is proposed as a crucial strategy for promoting social prosperity, and well-being, and combating climate change. However, a relevant question arises: How can we effectively achieve densification while addressing global warming? Companies like Holcim have responded to this challenge by developing sustainable building solutions and engaging in meaningful discussions with architects, such as Shajay Bhooshan, Associate Director at Zaha Hadid Architects. These collaborations provide valuable insights into the concept of urban densification as a catalyst for climate action.

As the challenges posed by climate change increase in number and intensity, it also heightens the need to find sustainable building practices that connect to ecosystems and livelihoods rather than harm them. While often overlooked in the search for innovation, vernacular architecture can offer answers to contemporary issues. This type of architecture not only relies on readily available locally sourced materials but also on indigenous knowledge of local conditions like sun orientation, wind patterns, ventilation needs, and the behavior of materials in time. Dr. Sandra Piesik, director and architect of 3 ideas, and founder of HABITAT Coalition, explores this potential in her newest book, 'Habitat: Vernacular Architecture for a Changing Climate.'

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The UIA World Congress of Architects 2023 is an invitation for architects from around the world to meet in Copenhagen July 2 – 6 to explore and communicate how architecture influences all 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). For more than two years, the Science Track and its international Scientific Committee have been analyzing the various ways in which architecture responds to the SDGs. The work has resulted in the formulation of six science panels: design for Climate Adaptation, design for Rethinking Resources, design for Resilient Communities, design for Health, design for Inclusivity, and design for Partnerships for Change. An international call for papers was sent out in 2022 and 296 of more than 750 submissions from 77 countries have been invited to present at the UIA World Congress of Architects 2023 in Copenhagen. ArchDaily is collaborating with the UIA to share articles pertaining to the six themes to prepare for the opening of the Congress.

In this third feature, we met with co-chairs of Design for Resilient Communities Anna Rubbo, Senior Researcher, Center for Sustainable Urban Development (CSUD), The Climate School, Columbia University, and Juan Du, Professor and Dean of the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design, University of Toronto.

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This Earth Day, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris highlighted the many benefits of nature-based solutions and recognized the important role of landscape architects in this work. At the University of Miami, she also announced $562 million in funding for coastal resilience projects, supporting 149 projects in 30 states, through the Climate-Ready Coasts Initiative of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Vice President Harris’ remarks build on the Biden-Harris administration’s support for planning and designing with ecological systems in an equitable way.

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For the 18th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, The Albanian Pavilion set out to respond to the theme “The Laboratory of the Future” with the exhibition “Untimely Meditations or: How We Learn to Live in Synthesized Realities.” The project seeks to introduce and understand new typologies of civic spaces by repurposing the rendering engine as a mechanism for exploration. The curatorial team is composed of architects Martin Gjoleka, and Era Merkuri, exhibiting together with architect Ani Marku and 3D digital artist Geraldo Prendushi.

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Skidmore, Owings & Merrill have been selected to design the New York Climate Exchange in partnership with Stony Brook University, a public research institute in New York. The new net-zero campus, located on Governors Island, New York, is planned to serve as an anchor institution for the development of new climate solutions. As a first-of-its-kind international center, “The Exchange” will also act as a regional hub for the green economy.

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Rising over global cities, the modern skyscraper has long been a symbol of economic growth and environmental decline. For years, they have been reviled by environmentalists for being uncontrolled energy consumers. Malaysian architect Kenneth Yeang acknowledged the skyscraper as a necessity in modern cities and adopted a pragmatic approach to greening the otherwise unsustainable building typology. Yeang’s bioclimatic skyscrapers blend the economics of space with sustainability and improved living standards.

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MVRDV has joined the Van Gogh Homeland Foundation to develop the first Van Gogh Homeland Biennale to bring awareness to the challenges faced by the Brabant region. At the initiative of Midpoint Brabant, the experience strives to combine knowledge of architecture, landscape design, and sustainability to reignite enthusiasm for the Brabant landscape, Vincent van Gogh;s native Dutch province. According to the organisers, the region is facing a number of threats, including the increasing number of floods and the limited availability of space, but, through an orchestrated effort, the landscape that inspired van Gogh 150 years ago can become more sustainable and greener in the future.

At the 2023 Biennale Architettura, Finland's Pavilion will present its exhibition Huussi, Imagining the Future History of Sanitation, which deals with the architecture of water and nutrient circulation, questioning the water toilet and Its implications for the future. "Huussi" is the Finnish word for an outhouse, a small compost toilet commonly used by Finns in rural settings and holiday homes. The exhibition, curated by Arja Renell and The Dry Collective, a group of Finnish architects, presents this typology as a starting point to finding alternative solutions to managing wastewater, inspiring professionals to start envisioning new sanitation solutions. At the core of the presentation, the exhibition questions the consequences of waste in the context of the current climate crisis the world is going through.

Refurbishment and adaptive reuse have been at the forefront of architectural discourse in recent years. This demonstrates that the profession is becoming increasingly aware of its impact on the environment and the opportunities presented by reusing what has already been built. Architecture 2030 has recently launched CARE, or Carbon Avoided Retrofit Estimator, a new digital tool that enables designers, owners, and communities to quantify the carbon benefits of adaptive reuse. By entering a streamlined set of project information, such as energy targets and potential building interventions, users can quickly estimate both operational carbon emissions generated by the use of the building and embodied carbon emissions, which are tied to the building materials employed.

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Venice, a city usually concerned with devastating floods, now faces the opposite problem: canals are starting to run dry following weeks of dry winter weather and unusually low tides. A combination of factors is believed to have caused this rare sight: lack of rain, high atmospheric pressure, and the lunar cycle producing low water levels during ebb tide. Since the canals serve as streets in the city, the phenomenon has implications beyond the disappointment of the tourists. Some of Venice’s smaller calas have dried up almost entirely, making it impossible for gondolas, water taxis, and ambulances to reach areas of the city.

The philosopher and sociologist Henri Lefebvre coined the notion of "production of space" in 1974, breaking with the vision of space as a container or scenario of objects and social relations, to move towards space understood as a process. From this vision based on the Marxist tradition, space is a product and a producer of social relations and processes.

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This article was originally published on Common Edge.

This week, the Museum of Modern Art officially launches a new series of exhibitions entitled Architecture Now. According to MoMA, “The first iteration of the series, New York, New Publics, will explore the ways in which New York City–based practices have been actively expanding the relationship of metropolitan architecture to different publics through 12 recently completed projects.”

The exhibition will showcase public-facing work, such as parks, community gardens, and pools, by Adjaye Associates, Agency—Agency and Chris Woebken, CO Adaptive, James Corner Field Operations, Kinfolk Foundation, nArchitects, New Affiliates and Samuel Stewart-Halevy, Olalekan Jeyifous, Only If, PetersonRich Office, SO – IL, and SWA/Balsley and Weiss/Manfredi.