This guide covers a workflow that moves from project parameters to generated floor plans, 3D perspective views, exterior design exploration, and site context visualization, using AI tools in place of preliminary CAD and rendering work.

The Cundinamarca and Bogotá chapter of the Colombian Society of Architects has announced the winning proposals for the public architectural preliminary design competition for the EDDI - RETO comprehensive development prototype.

3XN and IttenBrechbühl have been selected to design Tilia Tower, an 85-meter-tall mixed-use wooden building that includes apartments, retail, and a hotel. Located in Lausanne, Switzerland, the project also encompasses the transformation and renovation of two existing buildings, as well as the implementation of new public spaces, bringing vitality to the neighborhood.

Carlo Ratti Associati (CRA) has designed a new, mixed-use office building in Paris called ILOW. Created with property development company Bouygues Immobilier, the project was made to act as a bridge between La Défense and the nearby social housing projects Tours Nuages (Cloud Towers). Designed in collaboration with Agence d'Architecture Willerval et Associés, the building takes on the shape of "open arms" connecting two different socio-economic neighborhoods.

David Chipperfield Architects has unveiled his restoration plans for the Grand Hotel in Nieuwpoort, Belgium. Started in 2019, the project converts the structure into a residential building, while seeking to reinstate its landmark status. Becoming “The Grand residential building”, the architecture will also take on an extension that underlines a “sensitive understanding of heritage value and entails reinterpretation and invention as well as restoration”.

Architecture and urban planning studio STL Architects has created a design concept for the Korean Museum of Urbanism and Architecture in Sejong, South Korea. The team's minimalist approach features open, airy interiors and rectilinear building volumes located within the National Museum Complex Master Plan. The design aims to re-address the idea of Human Ecology by exploring ways to intensify the relationship between humans and their natural, social, and built environments.

+ 14

Iphan has announced the winners of the 33rd edition of the Rodrigo Melo Franco de Andrade Award (2020 Rodrigo Award). The 12 selected initiatives will each receive R$ 20,000 in funding from the National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage, while five others were recognized with honorable mentions. Organized by the institute, the awards program has been held since 1987 and is the largest in the field of Cultural Heritage in the country, recognizing exemplary initiatives of excellence.

A new film by OMA / Reinier de Graaf titled “The Hospital of the Future” has been released as a part of the exhibition, Twelve Cautionary Urban Tales at Matadero Madrid Centre for Contemporary Creation. Dubbed a “visual manifesto”, the 12-minute short film questions the long-standing conventions in the field of healthcare architecture in terms of the methodology behind how hospitals are built and also why they are built in certain ways. Through an exploration of the role that disease has played in shaping cities, the film offers a lens into the future of what we might expect for healthcare design, especially as we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The new Piccadilly Hotel in the United Kingdom by FCBStudios has received planning approval from the Manchester City Council. Designed for Pestana’s Cristiano Ronaldo CR7 brand, the hotel is sited at the corner of Piccadilly and Newton Street with a lounge bar and rooftop terrace. The scheme reuses a Grade II listed building with an 11-story new build to mark the gateway to the Northern Quarter and city center.

+ 3

Sou Fujimoto Architects has unveiled its design for the top part of the tallest skyscraper in Japan “Torch Tower” in Tokyo, collaborating mainly with Mitsubishi Jisho Sekkei, Inc. Standing tall at 390m, the highrise building planned to be ready by 2028, takes on a large plaza at around 300m, generating a space for people.

Blank Space has announced the winners of the second annual Outer Space competition. The competition asked architects and designers to leverage real scientific advances in robotics, AI, rocketry and autonomous spacecraft to create visions for the near future in outer space.The competition attracted thousands of participants, with winning entries showcasing narratives and images of architecture beyond the planet Earth.

+ 10

The renowned Fritz Höger Award for Brick Architecture announced the winners of its 2020 edition, which recognizes architectural practices from around the world for their outstanding achievements in brick construction. With nearly 600 projects submitted once again and a strong international response, the competition—now in its fifth edition—is one of Germany's most important architecture awards.

Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners have unveiled images of their latest venture, No. 33 Park Row in New York City. Located across the street from City Hall Park in Downtown Manhattan, the project, nearing completion and set to officially launch in the spring of 2021, is the city’s first residential project designed by Sir Richard Rogers and Graham Stirk of Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners.

+ 1

German design practice Barkow Leibinger has finally received a building permit for the Estrel Tower in Berlin, Germany. Set to become the city's tallest high-rise at 175 meters, the tower comes seven years after winning the initial competition. Construction is now set to start, and the project will be built on Sonnenallee in Neukölln. The design references the existing Estrel hotel und connects both into one unit.

+ 6

The RENAZCA international competition has released a shortlist for the design of the financial district of Azca in Madrid, Spain, according to El Pais. Directed by IE School of Architecture and Design Martha Thorne and Edgar González, the competition aims to transform the district into the most important economic and cultural node in the Spanish capital. The winning team will be chosen at the end of January 2021 and will have the task of transforming the sector into a "new, open, sustainable urban space connected to the city."

Architect and urban planner Nadia Somekh, from São Paulo, was elected today as president of the Council of Architecture and Urbanism of Brazil (CAU/BR) for the 2021-2023 term. This is the first time a woman has held the position. The selection was decided by secret ballot among the 28 federal councilors, with Somekh receiving 19 votes. In her management plan, Nadia Somekh states that “the country's current situation and the ongoing threat to representative professional organizations demand a dual approach.”

During the first two months of isolation due to Covid-19, designer Ivan Jerônimo accumulated more than forty drawings depicting objects and rooms in his apartment. These are ordinary scenes that were suddenly brought to the forefront during the pandemic.

+ 2

+ 9

Mar del Plata is Argentina's second-largest tourist hub, just behind the capital, Buenos Aires, and sees its population swell by nearly 300% in the summer months. To accommodate this influx of visitors, a large portion of the city's real estate is dedicated to hotels and short-term rentals and this had led to a colorful and varied architectural landscape.

To illustrate, as well as celebrate, this diverse and ever-changing architectural tradition, audiovisual media producer Obralinda initiated the Arqmardelplata project, a visual compilation of Mar del Plata's architecture that allows viewers to discover the wide range of styles found throughout the city—from the historic, to the sacred, to the residential, to the everyday, and to the anonymous.

Videos

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has approved a comprehensive plan to transform Champs-Élysées, the city's most famous avenue. Though the €250m makeover will not happen before the French capital hosts the 2024 Summer Olympics, the proposal aims to turn a 1.2 mile stretch of central Paris into an expansive garden. The proposal includes reducing space for vehicles, turning roads into pedestrian green areas, and creating tunnels of trees to improve air quality.

+ 1

Videos

Mohammed bin Salman, Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, has unveiled plans for a 100-mile long linear city called The Line. Announcing the project in a new video, the city would include a series of walkable communities for a million people with no cars or streets. The project locates essential facilities within a five-minute walk of housing, connected "modules" linking the Red Sea coast with north-west Saudi Arabia as part of the NEOM city-state.

Foster + Partners has revealed its latest project for Qatar, a 1.1 million-square-meter landmark development consisting of four high-rise buildings. Part of a larger masterplan also designed by the architects, to be completed ahead of the 2022 Football World Cup in Qatar, Lusail Towers is envisioned as a “catalyst for a new central business district in the city”.

Transforming the typical artistic experience, Snøhetta proposed a design to renovate the Blanton Museum of Art at The University of Texas at Austin. The comprehensive grounds remodeling seeks to “unify and revitalize the museum campus, […] through architectural and landscape improvements”. Construction is scheduled to begin in early 2021 and conclude by late 2022.

+ 1

NORD Architects and BBP Arkitekter recently won the competition to design and build a new public school in one of Copenhagen's most dense urban districts. The challenge of the design was to create a structure that properly fits in the already complex context, complementing the district's "high urban density, postindustrial heritage, and vital infrastructure".

GRAFT and Brandlab have created a prototype for an ultra-fast charging station for E.ON Drive in Europe. The extendable system of modules was made to adapt to different sites and parking conditions. Reimagining the stopover for the future, the project focuses on user experience and integrated design as filling stations evolve over time. The design features a steel skeleton roof structure that can be customized with diverse panel materials, photovoltaics and responsive lighting.

+ 1

Having a backyard and the willingness to learn how to grow their own food are what unite low-income families participating in an innovative project in Roraima. This is "Sustainable Backyards" (Quintais Sustentáveis), an initiative by Embrapa in partnership with Lar Fabiano de Cristo (Casa de Timóteo unit) and funded by CNPq, which seeks to stimulate the production and consumption of vegetables, fruits, and medicinal plants in backyards across Boa Vista.

Launched in 2018, the project's pillars include sustainable agroecological production, food and nutritional security, income generation, and the social and productive inclusion of vulnerable populations.