Sometimes known as the “Island of the Gods,” Jeju Island in South Korea is characterized by its volcanic rock, stunning waterfalls, and warm, tropical climate. Here, life is integrated with nature and the architecture is in harmony with the landscape. Dissolving Arch, a weather-specific installation by stpmj, responds to the island’s tropical environment. The structure began life as a solid brick vault, which then slowly dissolved in the hot and rainy periods of Jeju to produce a light, porous skeleton made of the remaining mortar which connects people with nature.
Thomas Heatherwick is touching the New York Architecture Scene again, revealing his design for a pair of residential towers in a pair of renderings. The two towers will flank either side of the New York High Line, located at 18th Street, it will situate itself adjacent to Frank Gehry’s IAC Headquarters building.
A city’s monuments are integral parts of its metropolitan identity. They stand proud and tall and are often the subject of a few of your vacation photos. It is their form and design which makes them instantly recognizable, but what if their design had turned out differently?
Paris’ iconic and stunning Arc de Triomphe could have been a giant elephant, large enough to hold banquets and balls, and the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. could have featured an impressive pyramid.
GoCompare has compiled and illustrated a series of rejected designs for monuments and placed them in a modern context to commemorate what could have been. Here are a few of our favorites:
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Courtesy of Eindhoven University of Technology
Beyonds igloos, sculptures, and Sweden’s ICEHOTEL, ice is not often seen as building material. An international team of Dutch-end Chinese students and professors from Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), Summa College, and the Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT) have used the freezing material to construct “Flamenco Ice Tower” in Harbin, China - the home of the International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival.
In an alternative universe, architects would have the ability to design every single aspect of their building in line with their architectural vision. There would be no mechanical, structure, or government regulations to worry about. Back in the real world though, this could not happen—many people have to be involved in the creation of a building in order for it to function. From the government to structural consultants, everyone thinks they know best, and the role of the architect sometimes becomes that of a negotiator, trying to please the third parties while maintaining their aspirations for the project. Architects must stand strong, however, because who really knows what would happen if we let someone else be in charge.
“Hairy” isn’t typically a term used to describe architecture. However, a “hairy” exterior is perhaps the defining characteristic of this micro-office by 2hD Architecture Workshop in the UK—the outer facades are entirely clad in natural coco-fiber broom heads.
The details and junctions of the broom heads are largely concealed as to let the broom bristles interlock, providing a continuous and visually diffuse surface. This hides any clue as to what is occurring on the interior—the structure existing merely as an object of intrigue.
Site models: they are intriguing and playful things by nature, making you feel like a giant looking down on a city. These miniature neighborhoods, however, are often large and bulky and only suited for architecture schools or offices. Imagine being able to have a site model in your home or office. Microscape has launched a Kickstarter to produce 1:5000 scale models of America’s Windy City, Chicago.
Situated behind Snøhetta's iconic Oslo Opera House is another set of buildings which mark out Oslo as a cutting-edge architectural hub. The Barcode Project is a masterplanning project consisting of a row multi-purpose high-rise buildings which largely make up the skyline of Oslo. Each of the buildings is the creation of different combinations of European architecture firms; however, together they form an enticing composition with the gaps between them creating the impression of a barcode—hence the project’s clever nickname.
Each of the resulting buildings pushes the idea of what a high-rise building can be. Whether they take the form of a giant staircase or resemble a 3D version of Tetris, each of the buildings has its own peculiarities. The firms involved in the project included Dark Arkitekter, A-lab, MVRDV, and Snøhetta adding their stamp on the architecture of Oslo. Read on to see German architectural photographer Rainer Taepper’s stunning set of photographs on the Barcode Project.
Ever wished you had superpowers and could fly through cities like Superman? Now is your chance! Well, kind of. The new XLine Dubai Marina lets you zipline at speeds up to 80 km/hr through the “City of Gold.” An upgrade from its first XLine on the Dubai Fountain, its new sequel is twice the distance, twice the time and, of course, twice the thrill, excitement, and adventure.
Walking into Abu Dhabi’s new Louvre Museum, one is immediately greeted by a flood of dappled light created by the stunning, multi-layered lattice covering the interweaving interior spaces of the building. The intricate geometric dome is both reminiscent of traditional Arabic architecture screens and crucial in achieving Architect’s Jean Nouvel’s vision for a “rain of light.” But what went into the design and construction of the building’s most striking element, and how does it function structurally? Ateliers Jean Nouvel worked for over one year in close collaboration with BuroHappold Engineering to develop a design which is both an architectural and structural masterpiece. We spoke with Andy Pottinger, Associate Director at BuroHappold, to understand the dome in more depth.
Oh no! Santa is stuck in the chimney again! For many children, there is nothing more terrifying yet thrilling than the thought of waking up to see a pair of black leather boots and red pants dangling from the fireplace on Christmas morning—maybe he ate one cookie too many.
Chimneys come in all different shapes, styles, and sizes. With the thousands of chimneys Santa squeezes down every Christmas Eve, it makes you wonder about the maneuvers, tips, and tricks he uses to shimmy down even the most unusual of spaces. Santa’s maneuvers are caught, mid-squeeze, in this series of section drawings by illustrator Chanel Dehond. With some wacky chimney shapes, perhaps shape-shifting can be added to Santa’s list of magical abilities!
For 10 years this December, Zaha Hadid’s Hungerburgbahn have graced the built environment of Innsbruck, Austria. Since its conception, over 4.5 million passengers have visited one of the four train stations connecting them from downtown Innsbruck to the Norkette Mountain to Hungerburg.
How does contemporary religious architecture adapt to the needs of the modern world? Each year, Faith & Form magazine and the Interfaith Forum on Religion, Art and Architecture (IFRAA) award acknowledges the best in religious art and architecture. This year’s winners included 27 projects spanning in religious denomination, size, and location. Beyonds this, the award recognizes three common trends present in religious architecture today: re-adaptation of existing facilities, community-based sacred spaces, and simplicity in design. Read on to see all 27 winners.
Eyeglasses: the quintessential accessory of the architect. They are mini pieces of architecture you can wear, and an outward expression of your inner persona. Whether they be square, round, or wire-frame, black, white, tortoiseshell, or bright neon tones, they represent our visionary ideals. As such, many of the most iconic spectacles have an interesting history behind them; so here are the stories behind seven of the most recognizable eyeglasses in the architecture world.
We have all seen a floor plan before. They are typically black-and-white, and maybe some room labels, and an occasional furniture piece or two. This has been the norm for just about as long as anyone can remember, perhaps it's time to switch things up.
Filled with color, style, and spunk, Instagram account, floorplan_man isn’t your average architecture account—his feed highlights the architecture world’s most unique and creative approaches to floor plan drawings. Scrolling through his feed is like scrolling through the Pinterest page of the artsy-ist person you knew back in architecture school—it is flooded with inspiration to upgrade your generic, boring black-and-white floor plan.
Could you ever imagine working in a small city? A new massive office building by Morphogenesis is being built to accommodate over 45,000 people for the Surat Diamond Bourse office in Surat, Gujarat, India. At 6.5 million square feet, and housing over 4,000 offices, it will be the second largest office building in the world, placing only behind the Pentagon in Washington D.C. Although its physical footprint may be large, the office building was designed in a manner to minimize its ecological footprint. Passive design strategies such as day-lit workspaces, natural ventilation, and indoor/outdoor spaces not only make the Surat Diamond office an efficient climate-responsive design, but also a key player for achieving aesthetic and comfortable working spaces.
