Learn how to make cinema-like video renderings with Lumion animation tools

What are your plans for this summer? If you like to test your passion for environmental design, one of the top summer programs could just change your life. 

The College of Environmental Design at UC Berkeley is excited that its Summer Programs are back on campus this year. UC Berkeley faculty and leading innovators of the San Francisco Bay Area are looking forward to in-person and hands-on instruction.

Bjarke Ingels Group, along with Argenia Ingeniería y Arquitectura, Buro Happold, and HCP Arquitectos y Urbanistas, have received the first prize in an international multidisciplinary competition for the design of the new Joint Research Center Site Headquarters in Seville, Spain. A "cloud of pergolas" inspired by the shaded plazas and streets of Sevilla will shelter the entire JRC site, plaza, garden, and the building underneath, supported by a series of columns covered with photovoltaics that contribute positively to the building’s operational footprint.

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The international horticultural exhibition Floriade Expo 2022 opened to the public yesterday on the site of MVRDV's arboretum masterplan in Almere. The concept features an alphabetical library of trees and plants arranged into lots on a rigorous grid across the 60-hectare site. The masterplan was conceived as a framework for the Expo, and at the same time, as a blueprint for a sustainable city district, given that the park will be transformed into a new residential area after the event. Held every ten years and running for six months, the Expo showcases the latest innovations in the field, from nature-inclusive agriculture to a sustainable pilot home made from 93 per cent recycled plastic.

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Technical precision combined with environmental concern and exploratory and investigative character make Carla Juaçaba one of the great representatives of Latin American architecture today. Carioca, born in 1976, Carla Juaçaba attended the University of Santa Úrsula and attributes much of her experimental and interdisciplinary style to this educational institution. It is not by chance that during her academic training her great inspiring masters were the architect Sergio Bernardes and the visual artist Lygia Pape, insinuating her interest in the multiple disciplinary branches that can compose architecture. In this sense, while still at graduation, Carla worked together with architect Gisela Magalhães, from Oscar Niemeyer’s generation, in scenography and expography projects.

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As the world of Architecture finds itself on the edge over the recent Metaverse and NFT hype, Zaha Hadid Architects is at the forefront of innovation showing us exactly how to utilize Web 3 and its socio-economic opportunities for architects, globally.

The topic has become especially relevant at the beginning of this year, with more and more platforms publishing about it. All the recent hype forces us to evaluate our role as architects and whether or not we want to consider servicing the digital realm.

After my recent interview with Gensler’s Director Harry Ibbs on Leveraging Technological Advancements to Bring Workers Back to Office I decided to cover the topic of a post-covid practice workplace culture from a completely different angle. In search of a more intimate approach, I looked into AL_A, a RIBA 2009 Stirling Prize-winning studio founded by Amanda Levete with directors Ho-Yin Ng, Alice Dietsch and Maximiliano Arrocet. The diversity of the leadership team and their 30+ person workforce brings a richness of thinking and possibility that’s played out in their culture, practice and through their designs.

The noticeable shift from 2D CAD in landscape architecture is in part due to external pressures, such as the UK’s requirement for BIM level 2 framework on government-procured projects. Even where there’s no BIM mandate, there’s inherent pressure to deliver BIM files when working with consultants who’ve already matured their workflows with BIM.

The Smithsonian Institution has announced that the glass-clad pyramid restaurant of Washington D.C's National Air and Space Museum, designed by Gyo Obata, FAIA, co-founder of renowned architecture firm HOK, will be demolished this spring and replaced with a new educational facility titled the Bezos Learning Center. The restaurant is one of two buildings designed by the late architect for the National Mall, originally constructed in 1988 as an additional structure to the National Air and Space Museum, that served as a dining area for the museum's visitors.

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Tallinn Architecture Biennale (TAB 2022) announced the programme for its 6th edition that brings forward circularity in architecture. Under the theme "Edible; Or, The Architecture of Metabolism", this year's edition explores "architectural strategies for local production and self-sufficiency" and highlights ways of reusing waste resulting from urban environments. Curated by Lydia Kallipoliti and Areti Markopoulou, in collaboration with local advisor Ivan Sergejev and assistant curator Sonia Sobrino Ralston, TAB 2022 reflects on the possibilities that natural metabolical processes can bring to cities and buildings when transferred to the domain of architecture.

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Rojkind Arquitectos presents a new project located on a 2,772 m2 plot of land 90 metres from the beach in Barra Colotepec, Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca. It is a family business dedicated to eco-tourism that is described as "with solid eco-sustainable principles, integrating Oaxacan craftsmanship with modern building technologies." Titled "Flia" (an informal way used in Argentina to abbreviate "family") the project stands as a permeable element divided into 6 habitable cores, allowing ventilation, lighting and views to pass through its interior courtyards.

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As cities keep growing and daily realities quickly shift, people turn to new and ever-changing ways to maintain their well-being. While the promotion of active lifestyles has been the focus of many Planners and Architects (Pedestrian/ bike-friendly cities, parks or fitness/ sports centers) aiming to support Human comfort and health, recent times have shown that these publicly coveted facilities might not always be accessible.   

The solution is as clear as day. In fact, if you’re not engaging in it nowadays, you’re probably witnessing those around you working out from home or even offices. Workplaces have been also adapting their interior spaces, having designated areas and equipment available for those eager to take a break from work.

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OMA / Reinier de Graaf and Squint/Opera have released a new video of the "Al Daayan Health District", a low-rise hospital prototype which responds to the medical field's rapid change through the potential of modularity, prefabrication, and automation. The project features prefabricated modular units, local farms for food and medicine, and high-tech facilities across gardens and water features.

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Oolite Arts revealed the design of its new Miami headquarters designed by Spanish architecture practice Barozzi Veiga, making it the studio’s first built project in the United States. The design’s morphology echoes the idea of a village for artists through a collection of rooms and a rhythm of vertical structures. The structure incorporates rich vegetation and strives to balance public and private, thus prioritizing both artists and community needs. The project, created in collaboration with local firm Charles H. Benson & Associates, is set for completion in 2024.

Since the beginning of the 20th century, automobiles have been shaping cities and architecture, demanding specific spaces to move and be stored.Cars and motorcycles dictated the organization of spaces and the consequent urban and rural landscape of entire countries. However, with the climate crisis and the recognition of the problems that this development model brings to cities and to the planet, every day more initiatives are perceived that seek to eliminate individual and motorized cars powered by fossil fuels, while at the same time we also perceive the need to give new meanings to spaces that were previously dedicated to cars. In addition to the streets and public spaces, this transformation is also felt in the houses and residential buildings that are beginning to see garages as a more dynamic space.

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The stage is set in one of the most iconic “end of the world” movie scenes: Citizens of New York City are scrambling on top of taxis, quickly attempting to escape the slow-moving giant tsunami heading their way. In the rear-view mirror of a bus, a giant wave can be seen rushing up the narrow city grid. Searching for higher ground, the main characters, Sam and Laura, run up the famed stairs into the famed New York Public Library, and just as the revolving doors shut behind them, the pressure of the water smashes the windows, and water begins to rise. Without seeing it, we know that New York City and its iconic architecture will soon be destroyed.

After being granted planning permission for UK’s Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre designed by Adjaye Associates, together with Ron Arad Architects and Gustafson Porter + Bowman, the UK court has decided to halt the project following a legal dispute. The decision comes after an appeal made by the former archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, local community groups, Jewish leaders, and Holocaust survivors, who all argued the project is being built in the wrong location.