Stairs are often an inevitable part of a building's DNA. Nowadays, staircases not only serve the function of practicality but are also a showcase of their own kind, especially if paired with a color that is guaranteed to grab attention. Among warm colors, red is considered to be the most powerful one. On one hand, it evokes feelings of joy and energy, and on the other, feelings of alertness and danger. Red can stimulate a whole range of emotions. Therefore, its usage should be attentive, delicate, and thought out.
Trampoline Bridge / AZC Architects. Image Courtesy of AZC Architects
Humane cities center around the relationships between people and places. Communities thrive on shared resources, public spaces, and a collective vision for their locality. To nurture happy and healthy cities, designers and the public apply methods of placemaking to the urban setting. Placemaking—the creation of meaningful places—strongly relies on community-based participation to effectively produce magnetic public spaces.
The design and functionality of public spaces in cities are always under scrutiny. Whether its accessibility to public parks and green spaces, the distance people live from public transportation, or the ways that spaces can be designed to make city life more safe and equitable. But now a new issue and one that lives at a smaller scale is starting to arise- where did all of the public seats go?
ZHA_RAS_Architecting the Metaverse. Image Courtesy of ZHA
Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) has collaborated with Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) for the 'Meta-Horizons: The Future Now' exhibition in Seoul, Korea. Designed by ZHA to promote the instigation and exchange of new ideas and to showcase innovative technologies and media, the inaugural exhibition of DDP’s new Design Museum explores ZHA’s work across multiple fields, from digital technology to artificial intelligence and virtual reality, featuring the firm's recent designs, process, and research that incorporates immersive technologies and new fabrication techniques. The exhibition will be on display from 26 May - 18 September 2022.
As revolutionary as the construction sector may seem nowadays, it currently accounts for nearly 40% of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions, 11% of which are a result of manufacturing building materials such as steel, cement, and glass. Fast forward a couple of years later, after a life-changing global pandemic and indisputable evidences of climate change, CO2 emissions are still on a rise, reaching a historical maximum in 2020 according to the 2020 Global Status Report for Buildings and Construction. Although a lot of progress has been made through technological advancements, design strategies and concepts, and construction processes, there is still a long way to go to reduce carbon emissions to a minimum or almost zero in the development of built environments.
Textile forms of habitation are far from new; in fact, humans have been using fabric to create shelter for thousands of years, becoming an archetypal form of building. Today, contemporary architecture has rediscovered the principle of the tent and taken its development further, implementing new technologies to generate more advanced and durable fabrics which allow larger areas to be spanned. Becoming a highly specialized sector within the construction industry, multiple textile forms have become common in a wide range of architectural applications – not just for temporary structures, but also for permanent buildings. Apart from their use in facades, these can be utilized in interiors to create highly functional spaces with unique sensory experiences.