Platform 8 catalogs a curated selection of work generated in the past year at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. Alongside final products of design education, Platform 8 places particular emphasis on collecting and documenting the people and artifacts that shape research-driven design practices. Here, design is presented both as process and as a final product. Indexical structure, punctuated with a collection of portraits, presents a comprehensive picture of the school. Platform 8 shows the intention, direction, and passion seen and experienced every day at the GSD.
Urban Planning: The Latest Architecture and News
Designing A Place for Inventing the Future: The MIT Campus, Then, Now, Next
This two-day symposium is co-sponsored with the MIT 2016 Committee and the MIT Department of Architecture. It will examine architecture and cultures at MIT and their influences on education and student life on campus. Speakers, including David Adjaye and Hashim Sarkis, will explore the prescient design of the original buildings and the interdisciplinary, innovative research that they fomented, as well as imagine the teaching and maker spaces of the future.
5 Steps to Creating High-Performance Communities
As we become a planet of city-dwellers, planners and urban designers have an imperative to design communities that perform better than ever before. But what exactly does “performance” mean? Communities should have energy and water-saving systems, but at a high level there also needs to be a more holistic approach to creating a sense of place and connection, while at the same time being accessible to different demographics and vibrant all throughout the day. Here are five essential ingredients for designing a high-performance community.
Kimmel Eshkolot Architects Wins Competition for Masterplan in Tel Aviv
Kimmel Eshkolot Architects has won the competition to design the Kaplan North Masterplan, covering an area of 32,000 square meters in central Tel Aviv. Once a secretive and secluded area, the space has been opened to new development due to the decision to relocate the headquarters of the IDF.
“Located between one of the city’s busiest intersections and its cultural center, the design creates a new gateway to Tel Aviv, which will be an innovative series of structures that will connect this fragmented area,” with the goal of creating a “sustainable coexistence between a busy urban space and an intimate residential neighborhood.”
China Takes Steps to Stop its "Weird Architecture"
China has become home to some of the world’s most outlandish architectural landmarks of the 21st century. Hangzhou is home to a replica of the Eiffel Tower, located in a luxury real estate development, and Shanghai’s World Financial Center is often referred to as “The World’s Largest Bottle Opener.” However, all of these zany designs may soon come to a halt following a directive issued by the State Council, China’s cabinet, and the Communist Party’s Central Committee on Sunday, reports the New York Times.
The directive says “no” to any architecture considered “oversized, xenocentric, weird, and devoid of cultural tradition.” In their place should be buildings designed as “suitable, economic, green, and pleasing to the eye.”
A 6000-Year Old Unplanned Community Photographed From Above
Photo of the Day: Ghadames, Libya http://t.co/MpRCAemGuy #pod #photography
— National Geographic (@NatGeo) March 27, 2013
Since time immemorial, and more recently, humans have wondered what the world looks like from above. This fascination has historically manifested in the plan drawing and aerial photography. In this vein, and using a motorized paraglider, National Geographic photographer George Steinmetz has captured a stunning bird’s-eye view of the ancient city of Ghadames, in Libya.
With "Ordos – A Failed Utopia," Raphael Olivier Captures the Contradictions of Chinese Construction
For the past quarter century, China’s rapidly expanding economy provided architects with an almost endless supply of building opportunities. Easy lending allowed for an exponential rise in infrastructure projects – China used more concrete in three years than the United States used in the entire twentieth century. But in a country where the number of cities with over a million inhabitants jumped from 16 in 1970 to 106 in 2015, the speed of development enabled high profile, but flawed, experiments alongside the many necessary building projects. There is perhaps no better example of this phenomenon than the city of Ordos. The Inner Mongolian metropolis – home to 100,000 – which sprang from the northern desert in the mid-2000s was designed for over a million inhabitants. The reality of the city came to public attention in 2009 when Al Jazeera wrote about an early uncertainty in the Chinese real estate market.
After living in China for a number of years, photographer Raphael Olivier finally gave in to the nagging urge to see Ordos for himself. Visiting last year, he found a well-maintained city that is still largely uninhabited. I interviewed Olivier about the project, his views on Ordos, Chinese prosperity, and what it means to photograph architecture.
Call for Proposals: The 2016 Fuller Challenge
The Buckminster Fuller Institue (BFI) has issued the Call for Proposals for the 2016 Fuller Challenge. Known as “socially-responsible design’s highest award,” the Fuller Challenge invites designers, architects, planners, entrepreneurs, scientists, artists, activists, and students worldwide to submit original solutions to some of humanity’s most pressing problems.
A $100,000 prize is awarded to support the development and implementation of the winning project. In addition to the grand prize, BFI will provide further resources for finalists, semi-finalists and select entrants through its Catalyst Program.
KCAP and ORANGE Architects Win St. Petersburg Island Competition
A team composed of KCAP Architects&Planners and ORANGE Architects has been awarded first place in a competition to design the western-most tip of Vasilievsky Island in St. Petersburg, Russia. The 15 hectare site will become a new part of the city of St. Petersburg, extending it into the Gulf of Finland through a new variety of urban functions. Thus, the project symbolizes the “new face of St. Petersburg as an entrance of the city from the water.”