Samantha is an avid traveler and architecture addict. She earned her Bachelors of Architecture in 2015 from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco and quickly got comfortable at a firm designing highrises and headquarter offices in Downtown. Currently on the path to licensure, she plans to finish the final California supplemental exam later this year. Samantha writes for the blog TRAC.city on the weekends, and for ArchDaily on weeknights. The opportunity to research and produce meaningful content for the sake of the content itself is something that motivates her on a daily basis.
Bee Breeders have announced the winners of the Construction Container Facelift architecture competition. The competition jury received a wide range of work, but selected proposals which were based on a realistic implementation of a novel solution, maintaining the inherent durability and functionality of the shipping containers versus altering them strictly for aesthetics.
As part of Art Basel in Miami Beach, a modern and contemporary art fair that highlights galleries and the newest developments in the visual arts, Carsten Höller created an installation piece for the Fondazione Prada. The installation, “The Prada Double Club Miami” is only open for a few days as part of Art Basel and is a fully-functioning nightclub.
Architect and illustrator, Marta Vilarinho de Freitas has yet again enchanted us with her intricate drawings of cities in thin-line-pen on paper. The Portuguese architect has been exercising her passion in drawing through a series of drawings entitled, Cities and Memory - the Architecture and the City.
Fascinated by cities, Marta’s illustrations express her connection with architecture while still capturing the romantic and qualitative aspects of each city, its patterns, colors, atmosphere, and light.
Marta Vilarinho de Freitas combines fantasy with detailed accuracy in her compositions of stacked building facades, roof pitches, plans and sections along with elements distinct to the city depicted such as Dutch windmills, boats, books, and instruments.The process of creating these drawings is cyclical in that they continue to inform Marta of the spirit of each city as she draws each art piece.
The winners of the Architectural Review 2017 Emerging Architecture Award are Christelle Avenier and Miguel Cornejo. The duo’s social housing project in Paris was selected as winners by the judges. All finalists gathered in Berlin this year to present their projects to a panel consisting of Marina Tabassum, Martyn Hook, and Matthias Sauerbruch. For the last two-years, the jury has received the applications at the World Architecture Festival.
South Australian artist, Joshua Smith has created yet another true-to-life miniature, a locksmith shop in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. The miniature was created for an exhibition at the Arcade Art Gallery in Kaohsiung called, ‘When the Sun Goes Down’ as part of the Streets of Taiwan festival. Miniaturist Joshua Smith selected the shop by using google maps, with supplemental reference photos taken by the gallery -- Joshua has not been to Taiwan, let alone the shop itself.
The Kharayeb Archaeological Museum (KAM) was designed by Shiogumo in the agricultural lands of the coastal village Kharayeb, in the south of Lebanon. The site-specific museum was commissioned to preserve and enhance the historical, cultural, and public significance by the directors of the archeological mission and site, Dr. Ida Oggiano (Istituto di Studi sul Mediterraneo Antico of CNR, Italy) and Dr. Wissam Khalil (Lebanese University).
Walking in through the entrance of the Experimentarium by architecture firm CEBRA, visitors can immediately take notice of the radiating copper Helix staircase. The Helix staircase is 100 meters long, supported with 160 tons of steel and clad and 10 tons of 7mm thick copper.
The Sunshine Coast of Australia’s Yaroomba Beach is about to get a $900 million upgrade. The integrated, mixed-use development will be the first 5-star resort developed on the Sunshine Coast in 30 years. HASSELL has been awarded the work as master planners, architects, and landscape architects for the massive project, focusing on sustainable and ecological goals to ‘touch the ground lightly.'
This fall, the Oslo Architecture Triennale had an open call for its 2019 curator. Now, they have announced the five proposals which have been shortlisted for 2017. Upon reading their bios below, you will quickly see the amount of multidisciplinary work each of the shortlisted teams is composed of, including architects, curators, writers, and various other thought-leaders.
The Oakland Athletic's have hired four firms to lead the design and urban planning for their new ballpark on the Peralta site, near the heart of Oakland. HOK will be collaborating with Snohetta on the design of the ballpark. Snohetta will also be working on the masterplan along with Sasaki and Oakland-based Studio T-Square.
You may not have guessed that the dystopian state of Los Angeles filmed in Blade Runner 2049 is a real place, just smaller. The scenes, from Los Angeles to the Trash Mesa and Wallace Tower were built to scale in Wellington, New Zealand by Weta Workshop, the massive ‘miniature’ sets were then filmed by cinematographer Alex Funke.
Your obsession with transit-oriented design has been answered with the newest map series by Blue Crow Media. The first in this series, London Underground Architecture and Design Map curates original content by transport design historian, Mark Ovenden paired with photography by Will Scott to depict the London Underground. Mark Ovenden is a specialist in graphic design, cartography, and architecture in public transport with an emphasis on underground rapid transit, making him the natural fit for the design of this map.
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The mayor of Strasbourg, Roland Ries, has announced the winner of the architectural design competition for a residential tower. The site is located near the Rhine, within the ‘Strasbourg, Presqu’ile--Citadelle’ neighborhood -- dense with low-rises, not exceeding five levels. The winning design by KCAP Architects & Planners and OSLO Architectes is commended for its contextual sensitivity and formal relationship with Germany which sits just on the other side of the Rhine river.
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Christian Weber, a 20-plus year veteran of the Burning Man festival has learned a few tricks on the Playa. Shelter from the harsh Black Rock Desert winds, heat, dust and cold nights are attributes of an experienced camp. “Every year we unload our camp out of the container and use our container as our kitchen. It literally has fold-down tables [and] air conditioning… and when we’re all done, we throw it back in the container and it’s ready to go for next year.”
The JUT Foundation in Taipei has recently had its 240-square-meter lecture hall by MVRDV transformed into a mossy art installation with a textile artwork that spans not just edge to edge, but up the walls, by Argentinian artist, Alexandra Kehayoglou. The lecture hall hosts a number of talks and events and requires versatility. The custom moss-inspired carpet adds a level of comfort and interest to what otherwise could have been a monotonous space.
The American Institute of Architects Los Angeles (AIA|LA) just announced the winners of their 2017 Design Awards honoring Los Angeles based architects and architecture. The ceremony took place Monday, October 30th, at the Broad Stage in Santa Monica, recognizing each of the winners.
The fourth annual Flatiron Public Plaza Holiday Design Competition winner has been announced--Flatiron Reflection by Future Expansion. In June 2017 non-profit groups Flatiron/23rd Street Partnership and Van Alen Institute invited ten design and architecture firms to submit proposals. “The initiative has become a valuable platform for launching new practices, a visible celebration of inventive, temporary designs that enliven public space during a chillier season, and an opportunity to understand how these spaces impact our minds and bodies” states David van der Leer, Executive Director of Van Alen Institute.
Of the ten design and architecture firms invited to submit proposals, Future Expansion with their Flatiron Reflection won the competition. Other participating firms include Annie Barrett, The Principals, Kyle May, Hive Public Space, Schaum Shieh, FIRM a.d. and Practice.
UNStudio, working in collaboration with Werner Sobek, have unveiled their designs for the Wasl Tower, a 300-meter tall skyscraper in Dubai. Centrally located along the main thoroughfare that connects the Emirates north to south, the Wasl Tower sits directly opposite the Burj Khalifa and, once completed, will feature one of the world’s tallest ceramic facades. Inspired by the movement of the city, the 300-meter supertall building takes on a "contrapposto" form, responding to the Sheikh Zayed Road along which it is sited.
