Videos: The Latest Architecture and News

In the latest video from Crane.tv, architectural journalist and planner Peter Murray ruminates on the benefits of integrating cycling into the urban fabric of the world's biggest cities. "For the last half century, we've bowed down to the god of the motor car and have destroyed cities across the UK," says Murray, Chairman of New London Architecture and the London Society. Murray and his team at New London Architecture are charged with analyzing and advocating for the improvement of London's Built environment, acting as advisors to Mayor Boris Johnson on an array of projects including the overhaul of cycling infrastructure in the city.

In this video from Zumtobel Group, Jan Wurm of Arup Deutschland GmbH and Lukas Verlage, CEO of Colt International GmbH, discuss the unique technological developments in “Solarleaf,” which recently won first prize in the Zumtobel Group Award’s Applied Innovations category. In addition to functioning as an effective shading system, this façade system uses solar panels to produce energy from algae to provide a new source of sustainable energy.

How does contemporary architecture differ around the world and what causes these differences? In this video of a discussion between Rem Koolhaas and Nest C.E.O Tony Fadell at Vanity Fair’s New Establishment Summit, Koolhaas gives some interesting insights into his experience with decision-makers around the world. Watch the video above and read Vanity Fair’s full article here to learn more about this seldom-considered factor in building design.

In this video, Raul Pantaleo, co-founder of Italian practice Studio Tamassociati, discusses the award-winning Port Sudan Paediatric Centre, which recently won first prize in the Zumtobel Group Award’s Buildings category. The remote clinic was commissioned by the NGO “Emergency” and is one of the few facilities to provide free care for children in the region.

The walls of Oakland’s City Hall transcended their usual purpose during the city’s 2014 Art+Soul festival, becoming the stage for a beautifully choreographed dance by aerial dance company Bandaloop. Filmed with a GoPro, “Waltz on The Walls of City Hall” captures Bandaloop dancers Amelia Rudolph and Roel Seeber as they take dancing to new heights (literally).

Founded in 1991, the Bandaloop dance company is known for their vertical choreography and they have performed on skyscrapers, in atriums and in locations as diverse as Seattle’s Space Needle and the wall of the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York. Watch the video above as the dancers gracefully twirl, jump and glide on the side of the 320-foot City Hall building. Visit the Bandaloop website for more information on the dance team.

Speaking from the newly-opened Istanbul practice of Copenhagen-based Henning Larsen Architects, Anne Marie Galmstrup describes her scandinavian design process in the context of her role as Principal-in-Charge of projects in Turkey. "Architecture is about space and about interaction between people," Galmstrup says, asking "How does it work here? How is it different in this cultural environment or in that climate?" Galmstrup discusses the atmosphere in Turkey, and how to engage young architects. Henning Larsen has hosted a series of "Imagination Schools," two-week workshops set in the middle east charged with overcoming regional design challenges, and Galmstrup has been instrumental in the orchestration of these and many more projects over her ten year tenure at Henning Larsen.

Have you ever wondered what a thought might look like traveling through your brain? In a recent installation in Moscow's Nikola-Lenivets park, media design firm Radugadesign animated the inner workings of the human brain with an innovative video projection. Universal Mind, a sculptural installation by artist Nikolay Polissky, serves as the immobile backdrop for the elaborate video mapping project. Over the course of nearly eight minutes, Polissky's brain-like sculpture explodes into a maelstrom of light and sound, with carefully curated streams of energetic colour interspersed with dark scenes of manufactured glimmering starlight.

Imagine yourself standing at a glowing threshold between reality and make believe, watching as mythical creatures dash across trees and into other dimensions. Imagine a world where the glimmer of fairies is reflected on a forest floor illuminated by trees of all colours; a world where a sea of stars transforms into an imaginary wolf, standing sentinel over its fairy tale universe. This enchanted world exists, thanks to the creatives at Moment Factory. In their Foresta Lumina video mapping project, they create a narrative installation set in the mysterious backwoods of Quebec, Canada. Find out how they add a little fantasy to ordinary reality after the break.

Textures and Ants is one of five videos on display by Studio MK27 at the Palazzo Mora as part of the "Time Space Existence" exhibition, running parallel to the Venice Biennale.

Produced by Pedro Kok and Gabriel Kogan, the video shows Studio SC, a photography studio based in São Paulo and designed by Marcio Kogan.