A new laser light installation by Luftwerk and Iker Gil has transformed the Mies van der Rohe's famous Barcelona Pavilion. Dubbed Geometry of Light, the installation was designed to highlight the materials and architecture of the structure using light and sound. Taking cues from the pavilion's gridded plan and vertical planes, the light project was designed to create a new interpretive layer that traces, highlights and reimagines the pavilion itself.
Architecture News
Barcelona Pavilion Transformed into Grid of Lasers by Luftwerk & Iker Gil
Architecture Students Imagine a Moon Base with the European Space Agency
The European Space Agency has teamed up with a group of architecture students to speculate on the future design of sustainable lunar habitats. From the ESA’s astronaut center in Cologne, Germany, the organization challenged the students to draw on extreme environments in remote places, and speculate on sourcing and producing materials on the Moon to build a sustainable habitat.
Giving consideration to sunlight, temperature, and terrain, the design team developed a system of inflatable modules that can land at the base of a small crater on the South Polar Region of the Moon, where they will gradually fill the cavity with lunar soil until the modules are effectively buried.
OMA's Stacked RAI Nhow Hotel Tops Out in Amsterdam
The OMA / Reinier de Graaf-designed Nhow Amsterdam RAI Hotel has topped out at its 91-meter height. The main hotel for the RAI Amsterdam convention and exhibition center, the scheme will offer 650 hotel rooms across 25 floors. Formed of three shifting triangular volumes, the scheme draws from a triangular advertising column on the Europaplein that once stood prominently on the site.
OMA was chosen ahead of eleven practices to design the project, which will operate as a hub for business travelers, tourists, and Amsterdam locals. The project has been 15-years in the making, as a larger 800-room proposal was once rejected by the city a few years back.
What Urbanism Needs to Learn from Dubai
In the past three decades, Dubai has grown from a dusty desert town to a strategic hub for international business and tourism. As a result, several cities in the developing world have been competing to outdo one another in the race to replicate this development model—an urbanism largely built around the automobile, luxury villas, gleaming skyscrapers, massive shopping malls, and ambitious “smart” cities, designed and built from scratch. Across Africa, these new developments go by different names: Eko Atlantic City Nigeria, Vision City in Rwanda, Ebene Cyber City in Mauritius; Konza Technology City in Kenya; Safari City in Tanzania; Le Cite du Fleuve in DR Congo, and several others. All are mimicries of Dubai.
Efforts for Gehry-Led Wimbledon Concert Venue in Wimbledon Gain Ground Weeks after London Centre for Music Announcement
It would seem that in London when it rains, it pours. Mere weeks after designs for the London Centre for Music were announced, efforts to bestow the city with another world-class concert venue have come to the fore. The Wimbledon Concert Hall, which currently has American architect Frank Gehry attached to the project, would add a 1,250-seat space for music and performance to the London suburb best known for tennis.
SOM Breaks Ground on Alárò City in Nigeria
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill have broken ground on Alárò City, a new masterplan development that will connect to Lagos in southwest Nigeria. The mixed-use model community will feature an international trade gateway with a new seaport and airport. Designed for the Lagos State Government and Africa’s largest urban developer Rendeavour, the project is made to boost foreign direct investment to create an economic and cultural hub for West Africa.
The Week in Architecture: the Long-Awaited Rise of Reuse and the Next Generation of Architects
This past Monday brought with it not just a new week, but the start of the lunar new year. The start of the lunar new year brings with it another chance to review what's past and start afresh - a welcome opportunity for those of us already suffering a bit of new year blues.
Looking back to move forward seemed to be a bit of a theme this week, with the announcement of a number of memorials and renovations on historic sites. While the spate of new projects this week is certainly a coincidence, the recent proliferation of reuse and memorial projects, in general, shouldn't come as a surprise. As the age of the icon-producing starchitect stutters to a close, the long-gestating movements in reuse and preservation will likely come to the fore as a major movement in contemporary architecture. While major works such as the LocHal Library and the Battersea Arts Centre are banner examples, this is a movement that will celebrate the small-scale and local.
The Belgian City Doel is a Canvas for Street Artists - But is Art Enough to Save it?
Street art has long surpassed mere trend to become an integral part of cities' cultural identities. What was once considered vandalism is now not only accepted but encouraged. The works of once-prosecuted artists such as Banksy and Shepard Fairey are now collector's items; murals can cost anywhere from $1,000 to $20,000 or more. Through their works, artists may even have the power to save cities.
Svigals + Partners design Memorial to Gun Violence Victims in Connecticut
Svigals + Partners has designed a Memorial Garden in honor of victims of gun violence in New Haven, Connecticut. Developed in collaboration with a partnership of concerned mothers, the scheme emerged from efforts by New Haven school teacher Marlene Miller Pratt, whose 18-year-old son was killed in 1988.
Working pro bono since April 2018, Svigals + Partners have designed the garden to be flanked by engraved stone pavers and lamppost wind chimes. Before culminating in a serene, protected, circular plaza, the scheme leads visitors past an original sculpture titled “The Lost Generation.” As visitors walk past, the sculpture depicts abstract human figures and are revealed and concealed depending on the visitor standpoint.
Royal Academy Announces Shortlist of Emerging Architects for the Dorfman Award
The Royal Academy has revealed the shortlist for their annual prize recognizing young talent in architecture, the Dorfman Award. The award is given to those "...reimagining the future of architecture and whose work demonstrates a high degree of sensitivity to local and global context." The 2019 shortlist comprises four emerging architects practicing across the globe.
This year's shortlisted designers/practices are: Fernanda Canales (Mexico), Alice Casey and Cian Duggan of TAKA Architects (Ireland), Mariam Kamara of Atelier Masomi (Niger), and Boonserm Premthada of Bangkok Project Studio (Thailand.) The jury for this year's prize included chair Alan Stanton, Louisa Hutton, Phyllida Barlow, Kirsty Wark, Lesley Lokko, and Richard Burdett. The winner will be announced later this year.
Boston Startup Spaceus Brings Pop-Up Energy to Vacant Storefronts
As retail moves evermore online, vacant storefronts have become ubiquitous sights in American cities and towns. Often located in formerly prime downtown real estate, the darkened windows have a knock-on effect, sapping urban vibrancy and sometimes falling into disrepair. Discourse surrounding the predicament of dead malls and traditional retail space is ongoing, but a one-size fits-all solution clearly isn't the answer here.
Diller Scofidio + Renfro Awarded 2019 Royal Academy Architecture Prize
Diller Scofidio + Renfro has been announced the winner of the 2019 Royal Academy Architecture Prize, an award given annually by the British arts body to recognize firms or individuals who have been "instrumental in shaping the discussion, collection, or production of architecture in the broadest sense."
SANAA's Bezalel Academy in Jerusalem Set for 2022 Opening
SANAA's new campus for the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem is now set for a 2022 opening. Initially proposed in 2013, the new project for Israel’s national school of art broke ground back in 2015. The campus is being built in the Russian Compound in Jerusalem’s City Center. The design will bring together 2,500 students and 500 faculty members as the school moves from the current Mount Scopus Campus. The new campus aims to revitalize the city center and connect to the urban fabric of Jerusalem.
Architectural League of New York Announce Winners of the 2019 Emerging Voices Program
The Architectural League of New York has announced the winners of it's 2019 Emerging Voices, an award given annually to eight individuals/practices based in the US, Canada, or Mexico. The Emerging Voices program, which is now in its 37th year, seeks to spotlight the distinctive design voices with the potential to influence the field of architecture.
The Emerging Voices award program has long been considered one of the most prestigious in North American architecture; a large portion of the 250 awarded practices are now well-known internationally.
A First Look at Dubai's Supertall "Burj Jumeira" designed by SOM
Dubai Holding has released details of the latest skyscraper planned for the UAE metropolis, designed by Skidmore Owings and Merrill. The Burj Jumeira will soar 550 meters in the air, “inspired by the harmonious ripples of the UAE’s desert sand dunes and its flowing oases.” Inaugurated by the UAE’s ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum on January 31st, 2019, the new tower will be built as part of a vast development known as Downtown Jumeira, “a city of the future distinguished by its intelligent design and cohesive infrastructure and network.”
The tower’s façade is to be covered in digital displays that can be utilized for various occasions and celebrations, with a 450-meter-high sky lounge and sky restaurant complete with interactive surfaces. The tower will also contain multiple observation decks giving visitors 360-degree panoramic views of Dubai, rising from a base designed in the outline of the Sheikh’s fingerprint.
17-Ton Steel Sculpture Finds a New Home in London
Artist Lee Simmons has unveiled a 17-ton, 50-foot sculpture in London’s Marylebone neighborhood. Titled Quadrilinear, the project is made of five layers of laser-cut steel standing four stories tall. The project is slotted through Schoen Clinic by ESA Architects, and was completed over a four-year period with Format Engineers. The stainless-steel column is based on deconstructed maps of historic Marylebone to engage the context, rhythm and fabric of the facade.
Farshid Moussavi to Design the First Ismaili Muslim Center in the United States
Farshid Moussavi Architecture has won a competition to design the first Ismaili Center in the United States. To be built in Houston, Texas on an 11-acre site along the Buffalo Bayou, the project will be completed with with AKT II, Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects and DLR Group. The team beat out a shortlist including David Chipperfield Architects, OMA and Studio Gang. As the seventh center built worldwide, the building will be a cultural and religious space for Houston’s Ismaili Muslim community.
Chilean Houses And Their Kitchens In Detail
Traditionally, Chilean housing has used the kitchen as a central space in their designs, from which all other venues are deployed. Being a focal point within each project, it's important to deepen its design and occupy every available square meter in favor of its effective use. Today, we review 7 kitchens designed specifically in Chilean homes; each one with particular details and distributions, and different combinations of materials, furniture, and equipment.
Alejandro Aravena and David Chipperfield Among Speakers at Mextrópoli's Architecture Festival 2019
Mextrópoli is a ludic and reflexive event that heightens the voices of architects, city planners and authorities to generate knowledge about the city that occupants inhabit. At Mextrópoli, public spaces are filled with pavilions, panel discussions that involve prominent actors in issues such as urbanism and public policy, as well as a strong selection of speakers. This program seeks to include all citizens. Students, activists, urban planners and architects are welcome to experience the extraordinary city.
In its sixth edition, the Mextrópoli Architecture and City Festival will propose new ways of thinking about the city as an open territory that is continually redefining its limits.
TEDx Talk by CEBRA Founder Mikkel Frost demonstrates the Power of Hand Drawing
Danish architect and CEBRA founding partner Mikkel Frost has given a TEDx Talk arguing for the relevance of hand drawing in an increasingly virtual world. Titled “Let your fingers do the talking,” the talk presents hand drawing “not as a render killer, but rather as a lively and more open supplement to the close-to-nature visualization.”
During the talk, Frost explains the inspiration behind is drawing style, partly from the cartoon universe where messages are communicated with humor, few words, and simple expressions. A central part of the design process for every CEBRA project, Frost describes hand drawing as a visual language that is easily understood, open, and less conclusive that hyper-realistic visualizations.
The Best Bauhaus Documentaries Available to Watch Online
2019 marks a century of Bauhaus, the school-turned-movement whose influence withstood forced relocations, political meddling, and eventual closure. Despite dramatic shifts in technology, taste, and style in architecture in the years since, Bauhaus remains one of the most significant subjects of architectural/design education and has even captured the interest of the wider public.
As part of our celebrations of the Bauhaus movement - and to satiate your thirst to learn more - we have selected some of the best Bauhaus documentaries available online now. Featuring largely-unseen footage, exclusive interviews, and/or unique perspectives on the Bauhaus, these films provide an excellent way to get up to speed.
"Reverse Zoo" LABIOMISTA Opening in 2019 Features Mario Botta Building
The public will soon have the opportunity to experience the vulnerability and awe of briefly inhabiting an animal domain at the “Reverse Zoo,” LABIOMISTA. Translating to “mixture of life,” the 60-acre project is spearheaded by Belgian artist Koen Vanmechelen and is set to open in 2019.
BIG Designs New Gondola for Oakland Athletics Baseball Team
Bjarke Ingels Group has designed an expansive cable-car system to connect to the new Oakland Athletics baseball stadium. The new stadium will replace the Oakland A’s existing 51-year-old Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum as a waterfront “jewel box” at Howard Terminal. At the Oakland A’s FanFest, the A’s President Dave Kaval unveiled the new Gondola connecting the Oakland Convention Center to Water Street at Jack London Square. The zero-emission transit line will provide residents and visitors with a way to see the A’s play in their future ballpark.
The Profound Symbolism of the Jewish Museum, Through the Lens of Bahaa Ghoussainy
In the heart of Berlin resides an architectural metaphor of invisibility, emptiness, and anarchy forged by the Second World War upon the Jewish citizens. The expansion of the original Jewish museum, which was first organized as an anonymous competition by the Berlin government, was proposed as a means of bringing back Jewish presence, retracing their culture and religion into the German city. Renowned architect Daniel Libeskind, who was chosen to develop the project, used architecture as a form of expression, and created a museum that narrates the Jewish civilization before, during, and after the Holocaust.