When we think of the word "tropic," the image that typically comes to mind is an exotic space, characterized by perpetual warmth and humidity, with frequent and heavy rainfall nurturing lush vegetation. Throughout history, this tropical climate has been romanticized as a paradise and criticized for potentially fostering weakness due to its perceived clemency.
Thankfully, those judgments and associations have been relegated to the past, paving the way for theoretical and practical projects that outline the advantages and disadvantages of living in a tropical climate. These projects acknowledge the various strategies to enhance human adaptability within these distinctive climatic conditions.
In recent years, India has seen a resurgence of interest in natural building materials, a movement driven by escalating environmental concerns and a growing desire to revive traditional lifestyles. From the busy streets of Mumbai to the serene villages of Kerala, architects, builders, and communities are coming together to experiment with the potential of earth, bamboo, lime, and other organic materials in shaping contextually relevant structures that also embody India's contemporary ideals. The shift towards using natural materials and other vernacular resources reflects a movement towards sustainability and a deeper connection with nature.
Rammed earth has been used in construction for thousands of years, with evidence of its use dating as far back as the Neolithic Period. Commonly used especially in China, the technique was applied to both ancient monuments and vernacular architecture, with the Great Wall utilizing the technique. Though interest in rammed earth declined in the 20th century, some continue to advocate its use today, citing its sustainability in comparison to more modern construction methods. Most notably, rammed earth structures use local materials, meaning they have low embodied energy and produce little waste. Below, we describe how to build with this material.
https://www.archdaily.com/933353/how-rammed-earth-walls-are-builtLilly Cao
A contemporary building immersed in a built environment. This building is made of (material). An isometric view with realistic textures. Image via DALL.E 2
As AI has become more accessible, we have witnessed examples illustrating its diverse applications. Prominent among these are generative AIs, which excel in their ability to “create” images through prompts, many distinguished by their composition and vividness. These AI systems are neural networks with billions of parameters, trained to create images from natural language, using a dataset of text–image pairs. Thus, although the initial question posed by Turing in the 1950s, “Can machines think?” still recurs today, the generation of images and text is grounded in existing information, limiting their capabilities.
What has surprised many is the increasingly apparent closeness to overcoming the Turing test and the growing similarity, in terms of visualizations, to what an architect with skills in this field can achieve. In this context, while the debate persists in the architectural community about whether AI can process architectural concepts, this article explores how it interprets materials to develop these visual representations. With that in mind, a single prompt was developed for this experiment (with materiality as its variable) to delve into the obtained results.
https://www.archdaily.com/1010723/does-ai-correlate-materiality-with-contemporary-architecture-an-experiment-with-six-building-materialsEnrique Tovar
From the pre-Columbian period of the Americas –during which cultures such as the Olmec, Maya, Purepecha, and Mexica (Aztec) thrived– to the modern era where architecture has been influenced by social movements and even natural disasters, Mexican architecture showcases a valuable architectural expression, with its own unique voice and distinctive characteristics. Nobel Literature Laureate Octavio Paz argued that architecture is an incorruptible witness to history. Likewise, the materials used to shape it have acted as protagonists of that history, enduring in many cases over time and evolving thanks to the generations of architects who have contributed to it, from different perspectives.
To trace a timeline, it is possible to take as a starting point pre-Hispanic architecture, which exhibited a diversity of nuances due to Mexico's vast territorial extension. This allowed diverse cultures to find their niche and develop their characteristic architectural styles. Subsequently, the era of Spanish colonization, which itself drew influence from Islamic architecture, represented a noteworthy turning point in architectural development. This phase endured until the advent of Mexican Independence in the 19th century. In turn, this marked the initiation of social and cultural movements, both during and after the Mexican Revolution in the early 20th century.
https://www.archdaily.com/1005554/materials-that-define-the-contemporary-mexican-architectural-aestheticEnrique Tovar
In the current scenario of a climate crisis, thinking about an architectural project without defining ecological guidelines has become practically unacceptable. One of the main emitters of carbon dioxide and other pollutants, the construction sector is increasingly looking for new ways and means that can make works more sustainable and, in some way, mitigate damage to the environment. Thinking about ecological materials can be one of the fundamental steps, but, which materials are these?
Take a second to imagine a building or a room. Chances are you are envisioning flat rectangular surfaces and straight lines. Whether it be walls, beams or windows, most architectural elements come in standard and extremely practical orthogonal shapes. However, the pandemic has shed light on designs that are not only functional, but also that improve our mood and well-being. In that sense, the power of curved, free-flowing surfaces is unmatched, which explains why they have been making a comeback as a modern design trend. Adopting beautiful nature-inspired shapes, organic curls and bends energize rooms and make users feel good. In fact, neuroscientists have shown that this affection is hard-wired into the brain; in a 2013 study, they found that participants were most likely to consider a space beautiful if it was curvilinear instead of rectilinear. In short, humans love curves.
Rammed earth constructions are not a novelty, on the contrary, some sections of the Great Wall of China were made using this technique. Relegated and replaced by modern methods of construction, the mud walls are currently re-emerging as an economic, sustainable solution, with low environmental impact. Even Joelle Eyeson, a young African entrepreneur, is betting that it may be the answer to the housing deficit in her region.
This is a rudimentary construction system in which earth is compressed into wooden boxes. The clay is horizontally placed in layers of 15 cm in height, and compacted with manual or pneumatic tools, to achieve its ideal density creating a resistant and durable structure.
When building for a more sustainable world, the materials you choose undoubtedly play the biggest part in minimizing your project's carbon footprint. Building a wall out of plastic bottles, for example, prevents them from adding to the hoard in a landfill. However, there is a material used for centuries throughout the world that tops all the rest when it comes to sustainability: adobe.
The use of earth plaster is very common in natural buildings; it is the same mixture used in adobe. Though easily made, its use is not widely known. Rafael Loschiavo, from Ecoeficientes, teaches the step-by-step method for bringing a new life to a run-down wall without the need for major renovations.
https://www.archdaily.com/905465/how-to-make-earth-plaster-in-5-easy-to-follow-stepsMayra Rosa
Building Trust are happy to announce that our latest workshop will be held in Batu Kliang, Lombok. The region near the waterfall of Benang Stokel, which is one of the major tourist attractions in Lombok, Indonesia. We are going to work with DOME LOMBOK and three local villages that were 90% destroyed after the recent earthquake. A total of 600 houses were destroyed by the quakes and the local community urgently need new housing.
We are offering a hands on participatory workshop where participants will gain experience in sustainable building techniques and
The idea of a total work of art - Gesamtkunstwerk - guided several schools and movements in the 19th century, including the Bauhaus, which brought the term into the modern era. With the school's unstructured architecture and avant-garde furniture design came new ways of designing clothing, graphics and painting, etc. In the Bauhaus different fields influenced each other, diluting the border between art and industry as they evolved together. When the school was closed 1933 many projects were left unfinished.
In order to revive some of the work begun at the Bauhaus, Adobe launched the Hidden Treasures project to revive five fonts inspired by the original designs of five of the school's masters: Joost Schmidt, Xanti Schawinsky, Reinhold Rossig, Carl Marx and Alfred Arndt.
More than a thousand meters above sea level on the slopes of the Alborz mountain range in Gilan, northern Iran, a remarkable village dating back to 1006 AD bustles with life. The unique ochre-brown structures of Masuleh follow the slope of the mountain that the village nestles on—or rather, grows from—giving the village its most unusual quality: the roofs of many of the houses connect directly to, or even form a part of, the street serving the houses above.
A powerful software like Photoshop can turn an average looking image or drawing into a stellar asset for a project. The trick is to learn to use some of its best features and optimize your workflow for maximum efficiency.
Over the years Photoshop has become the go-to tool for architects for any kind of image-based editing. The software has become indispensible thanks to its versatile features. It is a powerful tool for tweaking renderings or create them from scratch. Some of the most renowned visualization artists rely heavily on Photoshop and use very crude masses done in 3d programs as a starting point. From photorealistic renderings to editing photographs of built projects and beautifying line work, Photoshop can be an architect’s best friend.
In the city of Belén, Chile, as a part of the second phase of a Training Program for the Restoration of Facades in Belén, two historically important structures were recently completely restored. The project was financed by the Regional Government of Arica and Parinacota and SUBDERE (Undersecretariat of Regional and Administrative Development), in partnership with the Altiplano Foundation.
In both houses, the foundations and, where necessary, the walls were reinforced, and the traditional Andean roof and existing carpentry was restored. Notably, the structural reinforcement of the adobe walls used a rope mesh system, which was first seen in Chile in 2014 as part of the restoration of a church in San Pedro de Atacama.
Using concrete and bricks made of raw mud, architects Solanito Benitez, Solano Benitez, Gloria Cabral, Maria Rovea and Ricardo Sargiotti built a wall able to be constructed by the two materials working in tandem. Once the concrete dries, the bricks are washed away, returning the mud back to its natural state, leaving spaces in the lines of concrete, like a kind of negative.
This artistic intervention arose from an invitation to participate in an art exhibition in Unquillo MUVA, Cordoba, Argentina from April 11 to May 3, 2014.
Apple has unveiled a new version of their professional-level portable computer, the MacBook Pro, making steps towards defining the laptop as a tool for those in the creative industries. With a full 500 days since these devices were last refreshed by the company, the standout feature of this latest incarnation is a new, application-specific Touch Bar – a touch-sensitive display band at the top of the keyboard which becomes an “intuitive” part of the user interface, which also includes a Touch ID fingerprint sensor. Oh – and there’s still a headphone jack!
https://www.archdaily.com/798287/apple-releases-macbook-pro-with-integrated-touch-bar-that-works-seamlessly-with-photoshopAD Editorial Team
via Apple Special Event Streaming. September 7, 2016.
The iPhone 7 is here. Announced at Apple’s September Launch event today, the new device and its sibling, the iPhone 7 plus, have arrived after months of rumors, leaks and anticipation. The phones are loaded with a bevy of new components, including a new pressure-sensitive home button and bluetooth headphones, marking another step in the journey toward our wireless future.
Of course, in spite of the hype that the new iPhone will inevitably get—as it always does—it’s not the only smartphone on the market. Many will point to the fact that its expected RAM capabilities (2GB for the iPhone 7 and 3GB for the 7 Plus) still lag behind some competitors (for comparison the Samsung Galaxy S7 has 3GB and the S7 Edge 4GB), while the upgraded 32GB storage and newly-found water-resistance are no more than catching up with Apple’s competition. Nonetheless, Apple’s iPhone 7 also features a number of features that could make it a phone perfectly suited to architects. Read on to find out exactly why.
_(1).jpg?1506588062 "© <a href='http://www.panoramio.com/photo/106899133'>Panoramio user alireza javaheri</a> licensed under <a href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en'>CC BY 3.0</a>")
