Citymapper, which is just over five years old, has become the go-to mobility app for the majority of the world's major cities. It's strength lies in its accuracy and integration: the app parses local data and always seems to deliver the fastest route, even in comparison to its leviathan, data-rich competitors – Google Maps and Apple Maps. Having always focused their attention on public transport, as opposed to cars and taxis, Citymapper has become embedded into the way large amounts of urbanites navigate cities both familiar and foreign. As of today, they are building buses—and bus routes—of their own.

+ 3

Earlier this year, BDOnline released the 2017 edition of the WA 100, their annual survey of the world's largest practices. Ranking the firms by the number of architects they employ, the full report also investigates these firms' financial records and industry trends. The top spots show only slight changes from last year's rankings, with Japan's Nikken Sekkei taking second place from AECOM being perhaps the most notable change. However, the big story behind this year's WA 100 is the rapid growth of #1 firm Gensler, with the firm increasing their lead from last year. The firm now employs almost 800 more architects than any other firm in the world.

"Gensler’s total domination of the rankings continues as it achieves the seemingly impossible task of growing still more after last year’s huge leap in size," says BDOnline, noting that the company's total of 2,570 employed architects represents an increase of almost 1,000 in under 2 years. Gensler's co-chief executive Diane Hoskins explains this growth as the result of expanding overseas while continuing to expand in the US. "It’s not an either/or," she explained to BDOnline.

Read on to see the top 20, or go see the full list of 100 top practices at BDOnline here (for subscribers only).

Videos

The Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum has announced the winners of their 2017 National Design Awards, recognizing outstanding achievement in design and innovation across a variety of design disciplines. Now in its 18th year, the annual award was established to “promote design as a vital humanistic tool in shaping the world.”

This year, several architects and architectural institutions took home prizes, including MASS Design Group, in the category of Architecture Design; Surfacedesign (Landscape Architecture); Deborah Berke Partners (Interior Design), Craig L. Wilkins (Design Mind), and the Design Trust for Public Space (Corporate & Institutional Achievement).

BIG has teamed up with Friday Labs to create the Friday Lock, “the world’s smallest smartlock.” Through the Friday app, users can unlock their doors wirelessly, as well as automatically as they leave or approach.

As an access-granted user’s phone approaches the system, the door unlocks automatically. Access can be easily granted, as well as revoked through the app, allowing for temporary users, as well as to remove access if a phone is stolen.

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) College of Fellows has selected a team of three faculty members from Northeastern University’s School of Architecture and Resilient Cities Laboratory as the winner of the 2017 Latrobe Prize, for their study of “Future-Use Architecture.”

Awarded biennially for “a two-year program of research leading to significant advances in the architecture profession,” the Prize honors its winners with $100,000. This year’s winning study of “future-use architecture” focuses on the balance between flexible and fixed building systems to respond to unforeseeable circumstances and changes.

In honor of the 50^th anniversary of the 1967 International and Universal Exposition or Expo 67 in Quebec, Canada Post, and renowned architect Moshe Safdie have revealed a celebratory stamp depicting Safdie’s iconic Habitat 67, which was unveiled as the Canadian Pavilion for the world fair.

The housing complex, commissioned by the Canadian government and the city of Montreal, now holds the status as a National Heritage Site and its commemorative stamp is the first of ten to be issued by Canada Post in celebration of the country’s 150^th anniversary. Each stamp highlights a key moment in Canada’s history since its centennial in 1967.

Metaform architects and The Space Factory scenographers have won the competition for the Luxembourg Pavilion at the Expo 2020 Dubai, which is centered on the theme of “opportunity.”

Inspired by a Möbius strip, in which a twisted and folded ribbon has no beginning and no end, the winning pavilion proposal is modeled around the concept of “cradle to cradle” and the circular economy.

+ 7

Videos

From high rises to housing to kiosks and disaster relief, shipping containers have become a more common architectural tool over the past few years. Now, Canada-based company Modpool has unveiled yet another use for shipping containers—backyard swimming pools and hot tubs.

Designed to be modular and simple to install, the pools are shipped with all necessary equipment—including a UV water cleaning system built in so that only light ground prep and power and gas access are necessary before the spaces are ready to use.

Adjaye Associates have announced the design of a new 50,000 square foot library and event center in Winter Park, Florida, which will serve as a new civic hub and will compliment the nearby Martin Luther King Jr. Park. The $30 million building also includes an 8,500 square foot civic center, combining as a manifestation of the city’s aspirations for library services.

“Winter Park’s vision for this project truly embraces the continued evolution of the library in the 21st century,” said Sir David Adjaye. “With a diverse program that recognizes it as a critical piece of cultural infrastructure, this will be a dynamic space for shared education, recreation, and interaction.”

The Van Alen Institute and the West Palm Beach Redevelopment Agency (WPB CRA) have announced Open Shore by Ecosistema Urbano as the winner of the Shore to Core waterfront design competition. The competition invited designers, planners, and architects to envision the future of the West Palm Beach waterfront for the next 20 to 30 years, with elements like changing population, economy, and environment, in mind. Selected from over 40 international teams and two finalists, the winning Open Shore proposal will serve as a “vision board” for the city’s future.

The competition additionally announced a design runner up bu Perkins + Will and a research winner by the team of Happy City, University of Virginia, StreetPlans, and SpaceSyntax.

+ 15

Calling for entries to design pavilions in line with notions of sustainable construction and fabrication methods, urbanization, and renewable materials, CHART ARCHITECTURE has announced the five finalists for its annual competition, addressing the theme ‘LIVING CITY’. Proposals included the use of IKEA bags, biogas reactors and solar energy amongst other innovative design solutions, judged by a jury headlined by Bjarke Ingels. The eventual winner will be awarded a mentorship program with a professional architect, a construction expert and a developer, intended to “support a young architect’s career as well as to promote cross-sector collaboration and networking.”

Here are the five finalists of the 2017 CHART ARCHITECTURE Competition:

New renderings showing an updated design for the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles have been revealed as part of a presentation to the LA city planning commission. Designed by MAD Architects, the building will house the Star Wars-directors’ expansive collection of art, illustrations and artifacts, showcasing the art of visual storytelling.

Videos

NASA has announced the completion of the initial printing stage of NASA’s 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge, awarding Foster + Partners | Branch Technology and the University of Alaska, Fairbanks as the two top-scoring teams from this round.

After Phase 1 of the competition (won by Clouds AO and SEArch) tasked architects and engineers from around the globe to imagine hypothetical concepts for the habitation of Mars, Phase 2 is challenging designers to manufacture actual, 3D-printed objects using techniques that could be employed to create shelters on a future mission to the red planet or beyond.

Foster + Partners has announced the groundbreaking of a new $1.5 billion hospital for the University of Pennsylvania’s West Philadelphia Penn Medicine campus. Working in a multi-firm collaboration called PennFirst (with healthcare design firm HDR, engineers BR+A and construction management teams from L.F. Driscoll and Balfour Beatty), the architects have designed a 16-story facility known as “The Pavilion” to house 500 private patient rooms, 47 operating rooms and a total of 1.5 million square feet of healthcare space.

It's difficult to imagine an uncharted world. Today, GPS and satellite maps guide us around cities both familiar and new, while scanning and mapping techniques are gradually drawing the last air of mystery away our planet's remaining unexplored territories. At one time, however, cartography was based on little more than anecdotal evidence and a series of educated guesses. But map-making in the 16th and 17th Centuries was an art nonetheless, even if these examples testify to the fact that just because you're missing important facts, total fabrication may not be the best way forward.

Atelier Peter Zumthor has revealed conceptual designs for their CHF 100 million ($100 million USD) addition of the Beyeler Foundation in Riehen, Switzerland, just outside of the city of Basel. Located on land formerly off-limits to the public, the extension will add an array of new event and gallery spaces to the existing museum, designed by Renzo Piano Building Workshop and opened in 1997.

Drawing from the “village-like character” of Riehen, the addition will consist of three, relatively small new buildings that blend harmoniously into the museum’s nature-filled setting: a stoic building for administration and service, a glass pavilion for events, and a grand House for Art. Together, their arrangement will help to create a subtle link between the new and old areas of the site.

+ 1

Architectural landmarks can define a city. A mention of Paris conjures images of the Eiffel Tower, whilst no description of Sydney is complete without mentioning its inspiring Opera House. How disorientating it must be, therefore, to encounter a familiar architectural wonder far removed from the city, or country to which it belongs. As it happens, many of our most famous structures have their own "twins," heavily-inspired by their originals, that you may not have been aware of.

+ 6

The Architectural League of New York has announced the winners of the 2017 Architectural League Prize for Young Architects + Designers. Established in 1981, the prize has grown to become one of North America’s most prestigious awards recognizing young architects (ten or fewer years removed from a bachelor’s or master’s degree program) for their talent and forward-thinking ideas.

+ 11

The Obama Foundation today unveiled the design of former President Barack Obama’s Presidential Center, reports The Chicago Tribune. Designed by Todd Williams Billie Tsien Architects, the center’s design comprises three buildings. At the north of the site, the tallest building will contain the center’s museum, while buildings to the south will house a library, auditorium, and restaurant, arranged around a public garden.

With construction now well underway on One Thousand Museum in Miami, one of Zaha Hadid's largest projects to be completed posthumously, Curbed has reported that the 62-story tower will be the subject of an upcoming Discovery/PBS documentary covering the creation of complex structures from around the world. Titled “Impossible Builds,” the program will highlight the building’s unique glass fiber reinforced concrete exoskeleton.

Architecture can be demanding. As designers, we perform enough roles to fill a Shakespearean drama - from artist, scientist, and mathematician, to economist, cartographer, and writer. Fortunately, one trait many of us share is curiosity - a willingness to embrace new ideas, continually asking how we can improve ourselves and the world around us. The internet, therefore, is somewhat of an architect’s playground - a labyrinth of inspiration, ideas, and hacks.

As the internet continues to respond to societal needs, browsers such as Google Chrome are hosting an array of clever gadgets to enhance productivity, many of which you may not be aware of. From page rulers and palette generators to screen recorders and time trackers, designers can equip their browser with an arsenal of icons to rival a CAD toolbar. Below, we’ve listed 14, just to get you started!

+ 10