Vanessa Quirk

BROWSE ALL FROM THIS AUTHOR HERE

AD Round Up: Women Architects Part II

In honor of International Women's Day, we've once again rounded up some stunning architecture designed by female architects (In case you missed Part 1, featuring work by Zaha Hadid, Jeanne Gang, and more, click here).

VIDEO: The Story of Kankwazi, MASS's First Female Master Mason

In honor of International Women's Day, MASS Design Group has released the latest in their video series “Beyond the Building,” a visual exploration of the ways architecture impacts lives around the world (see the first in the series here).

Why Was Patty Hopkins Photoshopped Out of This Image?

Architect's Journal has reported on an embarrassing - and controversial - fumble from the BBC. Not only has the media outlet been criticized for "largely ignoring women architects in its series The Brits Who Built the Modern World," but it's now come under fire for an image (appearing at the beginning of episode 3) in which Patty Hopkins is photoshopped out of a group that includes her husband Michael Hopkins, Norman Foster, Richard Rogers, Nicholas Grimshaw, and Terry Farrell.

The six architects are featured in RIBA's tie-in-exhibition; however, as the series chose to focus on the five male architects, the photographer removed Ms. Hopkins from the shot (unbeknownst to the BBC).

Lucy Mori of KL Mori Business Consulting for Architects told Architect's Journal: ‘I am shocked that women’s contribution to architecture has again been “airbrushed” from this populist history programme."

TIME Debuts Powerful, Multimedia Story on One World Trade

Today, TIME unveiled "Top of America," a multimedia site relaying the gripping story of One World Trade, the David Childs-designed skyscraper that stands 1,776-feet tall within Daniel Libeskind's masterplan. Beyond providing interesting tidbits of information (did you know that both an 18th century boat and an ice-age formation were found while digging out the building's foundations?), the article, written by Josh Sanburn, is a fascinating and often deeply moving account -- one that gets across the sheer force of will and the extraordinary amount of collaboration it took to raise this building into the atmosphere:

"Nine governors, two mayors, multiple architects, a headstrong developer, thousands of victims’ families and tens of thousands of neighborhood residents fought over this tiny patch of real estate…. Almost 13 years later…. America’s brawny, soaring ­ambition—the drive that sent pioneers west, launched rockets to the moon and led us to build steel-and-glass towers that pierced the clouds—is intact. Reaching 1,776 ft. has ensured it."

TIME's investment into the story was considerable (and, one can speculate, motivated by a desire to rival the fantastic multimedia features of The New York Times). The site is accompanied by a special issue of TIME, a documentary film, an unprecedented 360-degree interactive photograph, and - come April - even a book. Sanburn was not only granted exclusive access to the project for about a year, but photographer Jonathan Woods is the only journalist to have ascended to the skyscraper's top. Woods, start-up Gigapan, and mechanical engineers worked over eight months to design (on AutoCAD no less) a 13-foot long, rotating jib that could sustain a camera in the harsh conditions at the top of the tower’s 408-ft. spire; over 600 images were then digitally stitched together to create the 360-degree interactive photograph (which you can purchase here. A portion of the proceeds go to the National September 11 Memorial & Museum).

You can explore TIME's interactive at TIME.com/wtc . Click after the break to watch some incredible videos from the project & read some particularly moving quotes from Sanburn's article.

Steve McQueen: A Master of Architecture in Film

"In a career that is still taking shape, the 44-year-old McQueen has already done more to make me rethink the relationship between the built environment and the camera than almost anybody in Hollywood." So says Christopher Hawthorne in his latest for the LA Times, where he examines the body of work of Steve McQueen - the director of Hunger, Shame, and the Oscar-winning 12 Years A Slave - and explores how McQueen "takes up architectural symbols in a sustained and strategic way." Read the fascinating article at the LA Times.

The Freakonomics Podcast Tackles the Question: Why Is Japan Crazy About Housing?

Freakonomics has just posted a fascinating new podcast that takes on the question posed by Alastair Townsend in our AD original article: “Why Japan is Crazy About Housing.” The podcast consults with Townsend and economic experts to present a thought-provoking answer to the puzzling question of why Japan builds architecture that is avant-garde and yet, ultimately, disposable. The answer may just surprise you. Listen to the whole podcast here:

The Winners of d3 Housing Tomorrow 2014

d3 has just announced the winners of its annual Housing Tomorrow competition, a competition that urges its participants to "deploy innovative, socially- and environmentally-engaged approaches to residential urbanism, architecture, interiors, and designed objects" in order to determine "new architectonic strategies for living in the future." As always, the results are fantastic, thought-provoking visions of a more sustainable world. See the winners, after the break.

The Winners of d3 Housing Tomorrow 2014 - Image 1 of 4The Winners of d3 Housing Tomorrow 2014 - Image 2 of 4The Winners of d3 Housing Tomorrow 2014 - Image 3 of 4The Winners of d3 Housing Tomorrow 2014 - Image 4 of 4The Winners of d3 Housing Tomorrow 2014 - More Images+ 13

Shortlisted Proposals for the Çanakkale Antenna Tower Competition

As we announced yesterday, IND [Inter.National.Design] + Powerhouse Company have won the Çanakkale Antenna Tower Competition to design a 100-meter Observation and Broadcast Tower in Çanakkale, western Turkey (the first international competition in Turkey since 1997). The team beat out an impressive shortlist of eight architectural heavyweights, including Sou Fujimoto Architects, Snøhetta, and FR-EE/Fernando Romero Enterprise; see all their proposals, after the break.

Çanakkale Antenna Tower / IND [Inter.National.Design] + Powerhouse Company

Beating out an impressive shortlist of architectural heavyweights, including Sou Fujimoto Architects, Snøhetta, and FR-EE/Fernando Romero Enterprise, IND [Inter.National.Design] + Powerhouse Company, in collaboration with ABT, have won the Çanakkale Antenna Tower Competition to design a 100-meter Observation and Broadcast Tower for the historic city of Çanakkale in western Turkey.The tower will be completed in 2015, in time for the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Galipoli.

Interestingly, this is the second design for an "iconic" antenna tower we've seen this month; you can check out Smiljan Radic's winning design for the antenna tower that will alter the skyline of Santiago, Chile here. And read after the break for IND + Powerhouse Company's description of their winning design.

Zaha Hadid on Worker Deaths in Qatar: "It's Not My Duty As an Architect"

When The Guardian recently asked Zaha Hadid about the 500 Indians and 382 Nepalese migrant workers who have reportedly died in preparations for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, the architect behind the al-Wakrah stadium responded:

"I have nothing to do with the workers. I think that's an issue the government – if there's a problem – should pick up. Hopefully, these things will be resolved."

Take the 'Equity in Architecture Survey 2014'

The Missing 32% Project has a mission: to understand why in the US women represent about 50% of students enrolled in architecture programs, but fewer than 18% of licensed architects (and fewer in leadership roles). If you too are curious about this unusual discrepancy, you can help find an answer by participating in the Equity in Architecture Survey. The Missing 32% Project (along with AIA San Francisco) will use the results to determine best practices for attracting, promoting, and retaining talent in architecture.For more information about the project and to take the survey, go to http://themissing32percent.com/.

Six of Britain's Best Shortlisted for Crystal Palace Project

After an open competition that sought to attract "the very best British architecture can offer," six architects - including Zaha Hadid and Richard Rogers - have been selected as the potential architects of the project to rebuild the Crystal Palace in south London. See the full shortlist after the break.

Odile Decq to Launch A New Kind of Architecture Institute: 'Confluence'

Odile Decq has announced that she is launching a new kind of architecture school based upon the idea of "Confluence," an educational framework that "erases the predefined limits of the traditional academic structures for the benefit of the collaboration of talents, thoughts and disciplines."

The Confluence Institute for Innovation and Creative Strategies in Architecture, which will be located in in Lyon, France, will bring together "Architects, critics, artists, thinkers, philosophers, film-makers, scientists, engineers and manufacturers" in order to develop an architecture that develops ideas unconstrained by "stylistic prejudice or ideology." More on this new initiative, after the break.

Infographic: Building of the Year Awards 2014

The winners of the 2014 ArchDaily Building of the Year Awards represent not just an amazing group of buildings, but the best architecture of today. Over four weeks, over 60,000 ArchDaily readers selected 14 stunning winners by up-and-coming architects, like FT Architects, who constructed an intricate Sports facility from locally sourced timber, leaders in community design, like Auburn University’s Rural Studio, who designed and built a civic space for an Alabama community, internationally recognized offices such as BIG, WOHA, and Aires Mateus, and more.

Learn more about this year's winners, and the BOTY Awards in general, by checking out our AD original infographic, presented by ArchDaily and our partners at HP, after the break.

Video: MASS Design Group 'Beyond The Building'

MASS Design Group, the award-winning design group behind the Butaro Hospital and Umubano Primary School in Rwanda as well as other public-interest projects in Haiti, have launched a video series on a great topic that really resonates with us. "Beyond the Building" will look at the ways in which architecture, beyond buildings, impacts lives around the world, giving dignity back to the users. Check out the awesome video above (the first of the series) and join the conversation on Twitter by using the hashtag #beyondthebuilding.

"Why Do Women Really Leave Architecture" Is the Wrong Question

Maria Smith, shortlisted for The Architect's Journal's Emerging Woman Architect of the Year, has just published an article in The Architectural Review titled "Why do Women Really Leave Architecture?" - an article that, like many over the last year, attempts to tackle the tricky question of why women (who make up over 40% of architecture students in the US but only 23% of the profession) leave architecture. For the first few paragraphs, I was nodding in agreement, eagerly reading something that - finally - promised to offer a different perspective on the "women in architecture" question.

Unfortunately, a few paragraphs later, all that promise falls terribly flat. Smith spends a good amount of time setting up a fabulous argument, and then - disappointingly - falls into the very traps she was hoping to break wide open. By the article's conclusion, I was less satisfied than when I started, wondering: is this even the right question we should be asking? 

Round-Up: 40 Projects Inspired By Our Favorite Materials

In case you missed them, we've rounded up our four popular "Material Inspiration" posts, which celebrated the launch of our new US product catalog, ArchDaily Materials. Check them out below!

From Grain Silo to Shipping Container Student Housing

Inhabitat has just featured an unlikely new student housing project in Johannesburg: Mill Junction, a student complex that consists of two former grain silos topped with shipping containers. According to its developers, Citiq Property Developers, the energy and money-saving project re-directs money towards communal facilities, proving popular with students. As a result, Mill Junction, the second shipping-container housing project built by the Developers, may be the second of many more. More info at Inhabitat.