NEOM - or "new life" in a blend of Greek and Arabic- is a new urban development planned by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Imagined as a cross-border city located in the northwest of the country, it aims to diversify the economy and reduce its dependence on oil. With promises of sustainability and innovation, the mega development has grabbed global attention with its 10 distinct regions.
It is conceptualized as a cutting-edge metropolis, aspiring to emerge as a worldwide epicenter for groundbreaking advancements and an exemplar of eco-friendly lifestyles. Since its announcement in 2017, NEOM has revealed the plans for 10 central regions, featuring a 170km long skyscraper, a futuristic ski resort, an upside coastal hotel, a tourism destination in a mountainous valley, and many more.
Roland Halbecame into photographyentirely by accident, discovering it at the age of 15 in a class on optics. His physics teacher presented camera obscura effects, which immediately triggered his fascination. He then started borrowing his father’s old camera quite regularly. While still in high school, Roland worked part-time at a camera shop, eagerly discovering everything there is to know about photography. Those were the circumstances that kindled Halbe’s lifelong romance, first with black and white, and, eventually, color photography with a focus on the built environment.
Rendering of Crow Museum of Asian Art at the O’Donnell Athenæum at UT Dallas, view of arrival and drop off from northwest. Image Courtesy of Morphosis Architects
The new arts campus, designed by global architecture and design firm Morphosis, has broken ground in Dallas, Texas. This marks the beginning of the first phase of construction for Edith and Peter O’Donnell Jr. Athenæum, a twelve-acre expansion of the University of Texas at Dallas (UT Dallas). The Athenæum complex will feature three main buildings: the Crow Museum of Asian Art (Phase I), a performance hall (Phase II), and a museum for the traditional arts of the Americas (Phase III). Phase I of the plan, the Crow Museum of Asian Art, is expected to be completed in 2024. The whole project is catalyzed by a $32 million donation from the O’Donnell Foundation.
This new cultural district, located at the southeastern edge of the UT Dallas campus, aims to become an arts destination for students, faculty, and the community. It also represents the latest milestone in a period of significant growth of the arts at UT Dallas, a school that had historically focused on science, engineering, technology, and business.
Models are useful to architects for all sorts of things, from the earliest parts of the design, all the way to marketing a building after it's built. But, what is it about models that makes them such an important and powerful tool? And, how do different architecture firms incorporate them into their own and unique design process? This video explores these questions by surveying three firms: Morphosis, MVRDV, and Herzog and de Meuron. Often firms have model shops and dedicated model teams who are responsible for everything from early design decisions to critical client presentations and even marketing the building. We hear from the folks who work in these model shops and breakdown how the three case study firms approach models in their own unique way.
Morphosis has joined DesignClass, a growing collection of online classes featuring innovators from architecture, design, and creative leadership. Each class aims to build "curious and creative confidence" in future generations of creative professionals. Delving into design process, logic, and architecture, the new class focuses on how to translate ideas into dynamic architecture with one of the leading practices today.
With its Shenzen project, design firm Morphosis reimagines the skyscraper typology, maximizing the flexibility of the floor plan through a detached-core scheme that shifts circulation, services and amenities to the building's exterior. Using a pioneering structural system, the project's spatial configuration diversifies the interiors' functional possibilities while reshaping the circulation routes within the building, with glass sky-bridges and large-scale steel braces knitting the core to the tower's main body. Completed in 2018 with a gradual opening that continues into 2021, the 359.8-metre tower is currently the tallest detached-core building in the world.
Dallas is home to a high concentration of structures by world-renowned architects. With some of the most iconic architecture per square mile of any American city, Dallas boasts designs by six Pritzker Prize Laureates, all within close distance to the up and coming Arts District. From Norman Foster’s Opera House to Thom Mayne’s Museum of Nature and Science, these projects are emblematic of a larger city-wide design culture.
Judy Genshaft Honors College. Image Courtesy of Morphosis
Architecture and design practice Morphosis has broken ground on the new Judy Genshaft Honors College at the University of South Florida (USF). The five-story, 85,000-square-foot building is the latest in the firm's portfolio of educational facilities, a project that marks the university’s ongoing expansion and growth. Located on USF’s campus in Tampa, the honors college was designed to encourage interdisciplinary exchange while providing flexible spaces to learn.
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Flores Residence, Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, USA 1979. Image Courtesy of Thom Mayne
Running from 11 September till 15 November 2020, "Thom Mayne: Sculptural Drawings" is the latest architectural exhibition at Tchoban Foundation Museum for Architectural Drawing in Berlin. Curated by Kristin Feireiss, together with Esenija Bannan, the project questions the nature of architectural drawing and how it influenced the work of Thom Mayne, founder of Morphosis. The exhibition features Mayne’s works dating from 1979 through 2020 and leads visitors from “traditional” drawings and new experimentations with techniques, through to 3D paintings.
New Orleans is a city unlike any other. Defined by a rich cultural history, the Big Easy has been shaped by it's geography along the Mississippi Delta and the local climate. After the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, designers and architects looked to the city with a renewed focus to build a better future. From the Lower 9th Ward to the French Quarter and beyond, modern designs were created within a diverse urban fabric.
Design:ED Podcast is an inside look into the field of architecture told from the perspective of individuals that are leading the industry. This motivational series grants unique insight into the making of a successful design career, from humble beginnings to worldwide recognition. Every week, featured guests share their personal highs and lows on their journey to success, that is sure to inspire audiences at all levels of the industry. Listening to their stories will provide a rare blueprint for anyone seeking to advance their career, and elevate their work to the next level.
Pritzker Prize Winner, Morphosis Founder & SCI-Arc Co-Founder, Thom Mayne joins the podcast to discuss his attraction to being an outsider, the use of technology within architecture, and how he founded the world-renowned architecture firm Morphosis.
Morphosis will design a new high-tech global headquarters for lululemon in Vancouver, Canada. Working with Francl Architecture and Clive Wilkinson Architects, the team will create the main office to serve as an extension of the core values of the brand itself. The design for the 13-story headquarters is made to create strong connections between the building and its site, landscape, and community, with exterior and interior spaces that encourage collaboration and innovation.
Morphosis Architects designed a new conference center for the city of Nanjing in China. Located in the New Jiangbei District, the project is situated between China’s eastern coastal cities and the Yangtze River Delta region. The conference center design was made as a flagship project to embody a charter for sustainable and ecologically-sensitive development.
Shifts in technology reflect how designers are creating experiences of architecture and cities. New advances engender novel ways of working, and in turn, shape our design process. As a practice defined by pushing boundaries, experimenting with workflows, and embracing new design technologies, Morphosis has a forty-year history of enthusiastically wondering at the future.
Morphosis has unveiled new images of the proposed 15-story mixed-use development along the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles. Spanning along Sunset Boulevard between San Vicente Boulevard and Larrabee Street, the 369,000-square-foot building is designed with a gym, movie screening room, and a rooftop pool. The project would include a new home for the landmark Viper Room, as the sinuous residential tower and hotel redefines one of L.A.'s most iconic streetscapes.
