Ephemeral architectures, characterized by their temporary and flexible nature, have emerged as powerful tools for revitalizing urban spaces and fostering architectural creativity. These transient installations transform public areas, engaging communities, and prompting reflections on the potential futures of our cities. By temporarily transforming environments, ephemeral architectures encourage both architects and the public to reimagine the possibilities of urban living. This dynamic interplay, between the temporary and the permanent, challenges traditional architectural practices and opens up new avenues for sustainable and inclusive urban development.
Interactive Architecture: The Latest Architecture and News
The San Marino Pavilion Distinguishes Between Host and Guest at the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale
For this year’s annual architecture exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, the Pavilion of San Marino will present the Hosting Guest project. Curated by Michael Kaethler and Marco Pierini, this intervention is an authentic co-design workshop focused on hospitality-related issues, part of an international and multi-year research project based on real places and needs. Representing the oldest Republic in the world, Artist Vittorio Corsini will participate in the pavilion with the help of a research team of students, designers, and researchers from San Marino, Venetian, and international universities.
"Datament": The Polish Pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2023 Examines Humanity's Relationship with Data
The Polish pavilion will present Datament at the International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia. The installation will allow visitors to experience data in its physical form. The core aim of the exhibition is to showcase how prevalent data has become, shaping the reality in which we live, create, and dwell. Created by Anna Barlik, Marcin Strzała and Jacek Sosnowski, Datament is the starting point for discussing how data and new technologies will play a crucial role in the future.
The Pavilion of Hungary Explores Historical Ethnography at Venice Architecture Biennale 2023
At this year’s Venice Architecture Biennale 2023, the Hungarian Pavilion focuses on a new museum building in Budapest, the Museum of Ethnography. The Museum was designed by Marcel Ferencz (Napur Architect) and completed in 2022 as one of Europe’s most notable cultural and urban development programs, the Liget Budapest Project. The exhibition in Venice, titled "Reziduum – The Frequency of Architecture" and curated by Mária Kondor-Szilágyi, will present the museum's collection through the digital medium. A short animated film titled Ethnozoom and an interactive computer program, the MotifCreator, will allow visitors to become familiar with Hungarian traditions and create their own motif compositions, thus contributing to worldwide community creation. The Hungarian Pavilion will showcase works by architect Marcel Ferencz, architect and composer Péter Mátrai, architect Judit Z. Halmágyi and light designer Ferenc Haász.
C.F. Møller Wins Competition for Active-Learning School in Copenhagen
In May 2017, C.F. Møller and Tredje Natur’s interactive education design won the New Islands Brygge School competition. The new education facility sets up innovative, sustainable and active spaces for sixth to ninth grade students to participate in experience-based learning.
Treepedia - MIT Maps and Analyses Tree Coverage in Major Cities
Researchers at the MIT Senseable City Lab have launched a new platform using Google Street View data to measure and compare the green canopies of major cities across the world. Treepedia, created in collaboration with the World Economic Forum, is an interactive website which allows users to view the location and size of their city’s trees, submit information to help tag them, and advocate for more trees in their area. In the development of Treepedia, the Senseable City Lab recognizes the role of green canopies in urban life, and asks how citizens can be more integral to the process of greening their neighborhoods.
Can Architecture Make Us More Creative?
What do MIT’s Building 20, the Ancient Greek Agora, 18th Century British teahouses, and early 20th century Parisian cafés have in common?
They were some of the most creative spaces in the world.
People who gathered there would interact. People, such as Socrates or Chomsky or Edison, exchanged ideas, argued about morals, and discussed technologies. They participated in an informal discourse driven by passionate involvement.
And these places, although for different reasons, fostered interaction by bringing people together and giving them a place to talk. As Jonah Lehrer put it, “the most creative spaces are those which hurl us together. It is the human friction that makes the sparks.”
The question, then, is how can contemporary architecture foster the same kind of creativity?
To learn more about architecture and its role in creativity and learning, keep reading after the break.