KuantoKusta Headquarters / A2OFFICE
House K / YDS Architects
-
Architects: YDS Architects
- Area: 160 m²
- Year: 2016
-
Professionals: Iwanaga-gumi Co.Ltd., Myu structural Engineer
Near My [B] / Le Sixieme
-
Architects: Le Sixieme
- Area: 682 m²
- Year: 2016
-
Manufacturers: 3M, Investwood, Amkel, EdilGres, Sandberg
Elm House / Peter Braithwaite Studio
-
Architects: Peter Braithwaite Studio
- Area: 2400 ft²
- Year: 2016
-
Manufacturers: Maibec, Norwood Windows, VaproShield
Comic Break: "Gift Shopping"
One of the true tragedies of the architecture profession is that it instills in you expensive taste, but doesn’t give you the salary to acquire all those fine goods. The holiday season is the peak of this conundrum – how do you find the perfect gift for someone that lives up to your own lofty standards when buying a plane ticket home to see your family is already putting you in the red? One thing architects always seem to manage, however, is justifying that a cool new gadget or designed object isn’t just something we want, but something we need.
Quelen Ark / Susana Herrera + FACTORIA
-
Architects: Susana Herrera + FACTORIA
- Year: 2012
-
Manufacturers: 15 Craftmen, Lucien Burquier, PolyteSolet
Pei Partnership Architects Wins Competition for Nanhai Cultural Center
Pei Partnership Architects, in collaboration with Guangzhou HSArchitects, has been selected as the winner of an international design competition for the Nanhai Cultural Center in the Nanhai District of Foshan, China. The winning design seeks to create a “New Civic Plaza” connecting a variety of cultural program elements through a balance of structure and void.
I.M. Pei's Le Grande Louvre Wins AIA 25 Year Award
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has selected The Grand Louvre – Phase I as the recipient of the 2017 AIA Twenty-five Year Award. Designed by I.M. Pei with his firm Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, the project is notable for its 71-foot-tall glass and stainless steel pyramid, which according to the AIA, “now rivals the Eiffel Tower as one of France’s most recognizable architectural icons.”
The award is presented annually to a project that has "stood the test of time by embodying architectural excellence for 25 to 35 years."
Police Station in Salt / Josep Ferrando Architecture + Sergi Serrat
-
Architects: Josep Ferrando Architecture, Sergi Serrat
- Area: 2000 m²
- Year: 2011
-
Manufacturers: Construcciones Alsina, Reckli
-
Professionals: Construccions Alsina SA, NB 35
Architecture's "Political Compass": A Taxonomy of Emerging Architecture in One Diagram
Observing the architectural landscape today it’s clear that the type of work which is currently ascendant, particularly among young practices, is very different to what came before the financial crisis of 2008. But what, exactly, does that architectural landscape look like? In an essay titled “Well into the 21st Century” in the latest issue of El Croquis, Alejandro Zaera-Polo outlined a 21st-century taxonomy of architecture, attempting to define and categorize the various new forms of practice that have grown in popularity in the years since—and as a political response to—the economic crisis.
The categories defined by Zaera-Polo encompass seven broad political positions: The “Activists,” who reject architecture’s dependence on market forces by operating largely outside the market, with a focus on community building projects, direct engagement with construction, and non-conventional funding strategies; then there are the “Populists,” whose work is calibrated to reconnect with the populace thanks to a media-friendly, diagrammatic approach to architectural form; next are the “New Historicists,” whose riposte to the “end of history” hailed by neoliberalism is an embrace of historically-informed design; the “Skeptics,” whose existential response to the collapse of the system is in part a return to postmodern critical discourse and in part an exploration of contingency and playfulness through an architecture of artificial materials and bright colors; the “Material Fundamentalists,” who returned to a tactile and virtuoso use of materials in response to the visual spectacle of pre-crash architecture; practitioners of “Austerity Chic,” a kind of architectural “normcore” (to borrow a term from fashion) which focuses primarily on the production process, and resulting performance, of architecture; and finally the “Techno-Critical,” a group of practices largely producing speculative architecture, whose work builds upon but also remains critical of the data-driven parametricism of their predecessors.
As a follow-up to that essay, Zaera-Polo and Guillermo Fernandez-Abascal set out to apply the newly-defined categories to the emerging practices of today with a nuanced “political compass” diagram. They invited practices to respond to their categorization in order to unveil the complex interdependencies and self-image of these political stances. For the first time, here ArchDaily publishes the results of that exercise.
Jan Gehl's 5 Rules for Designing Great Cities
Danish architect Jan Gehl is a world renowned expert in all things related to urban design and public spaces. He obtained this expertise by publishing numerous books, and later, from his consulting firm Gehl Architects that he founded in Copenhagen, his hometown, to make cities for people. The firm celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2016.
Ruth / Urbain Architectencollectief
-
Architects: Urbain Architectencollectief
- Area: 360 m²
- Year: 2015
-
Manufacturers: Reynaers Aluminium, FSB Franz Schneider Brakel, Koramic
-
Professionals: Babo nv, Sileghem & Partners
Schmidt Hammer Lassen Design New Shanghai Library
With nearly 25 million inhabitants the Chinese city of Shanghai is currently the most populous city in the world and, in addition, has a central library system that dates back to the mid 19th Century. A new city library, designed by Danish practice Schmidt Hammer Lassen and won following a two-stage international competition, will provide 110,000 square meters of space in the Pudong District and adjacent to Century Park – the largest green space in the city.
Kunst in Weidingen / AXT Architekten
-
Architects: AXT Architekten
- Area: 8450 m²
- Year: 2016
-
Manufacturers: KEIM, TECU®, DuPont, Wienerberger, Brillux, +10
OVO Wroclaw / Gottesman-Szmelcman Architecture
-
Architects: Gottesman-Szmelcman Architecture
- Area: 50000 m²
- Year: 2016
-
Manufacturers: Aluprof, AxelPro, Corian, FAST, Phiips, +2