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

The recently-formed town of Sadra, Iran, is gradually evolving into a mega-city as a result of its geographical location and architectural potential. To improve the cultural standards of the town, several cultural centers were constructed, transforming the area into a major hub for people of all ages.

Keeping in mind that a newly-built town requires an adaptable space for potential expansions, NextOffice - Alireza Taghaboni architecture studio created the “Sadra Civic Center”, a town within a town built from its surrounding urban elements.

+ 18

Published at the end of 2018, the new European Standard EN 17037 deals with daylight in buildings. It is the first Europe-wide standard to deal exclusively with the design for, and provision of, daylight. EN 17037 replaces a patchwork of standards across different European countries or provides one where no existing standard is present.

Foster + Partners have revealed a new design for a timber boathouse on the Harlem River in New York. Sited in Sherman Creek Park, the design was made for non-profit Row New York. The proposed boathouse seeks to expand Row New York’s free and low-cost programs that teach young people in under-resourced communities the sport of competitive rowing, while also assisting them with their education to prepare them for higher education and a path to college.

Videos

Louisiana Channel has released their latest video interview with 3XN founder Kim Herforth Nielsen, in which she reflects on the firm’s design for the Olympic House, the new headquarters for the International Olympic Committee, which is heralded as one of the world’s most sustainable buildings.

Foster+Partners and Immersive have joined forces with Steven Spielberg to create a digital entertainment experience for the Comcast Technology Center in Philadelphia. Immersive, recognized as a world leader in the design and production of experimental media installations, conceived the installation having been approached by Foster + Partners in 2016 to create a multimedia experience that would embody the Comcast Technology Center’s focus on innovation.

+ 3

This is all quite recent: less than a year ago, a French family became the first in the world to live in a 3D printed house. Short of 20 years, this seemed like a distant dream, this new technology has developed quickly, and it arises as a possible contribution to the housing crisis around the world.

Traditionally, bricks have been used in architecture to fulfill a double function: structural and aesthetic. While they act as an effective and resistant modular solution in building structures, their faces can be exposed to constitute their architectural appearance, generating facades rich in texture and color, thanks to the iron present in the clay they are composed of.

At present, there are products that allow the attractive appearance of bricks to be merged with other structural systems, separating their functions and providing the necessary freedom of design so that the facades can adapt creatively in favor of the conditions of each project and the requirements of its users.

Dutch design practice MVRDV has reopened their 2016 project Crystal Houses with a new tenant and façade. Located on the high-end shopping street PC Hooftstraat, Crystal Houses initially hosted a temporary store for Chanel. The project’s jewel-like façade was proposed as a way for Amsterdam to be home to distinctive, upmarket flagship stores without compromising the city’s historical character. Now the project has been renovated and re-opened for French luxury brand Hermès.

+ 5

In their new student housing project, Walshe's Yard, Urban Agency has placed incredible importance on blending the building into its context while also providing a high quality of living for students. Located in Carlow, Ireland, the building is situated on the threshold between the looser urban periphery and the denser historic center of the town. The 3800 square meter project will include 125 bedspaces arranged into 32 “student houses” of either 3, 6, or 8 students, plus graduate studios on the top floor.

+ 11

One of the most highly regarded architects of his generation, Portugese architect Álvaro Siza (born 25 June 1933) is known for his sculptural works that have been described as "poetic modernism." When he was awarded the Pritzker Prize in 1992, Siza was credited as being a successor of early modernists: the jury citation describes how "his shapes, molded by light, have a deceptive simplicity about them; they are honest."

+ 10

The Australian Institute of Architects have awarded the 2019 Gold Medal to Santa Monica-based Australian expatriates Hank Koning and Julie Eizenberg of Koning Eizenberg Architecture. As the Institute’s highest honour, the Gold Medal was awarded to acknowledge the firm's commitment to affordable housing, education and civic projects, and to tirelessly fighting to improve the situation of underprivileged communities.

+ 2

During the 2019 AIA Convention in Las Vegas we invited a selected group of manufacturers and industry leaders to discuss the future of architecture and construction. Trends, technology, apps, BIM, customization, supply chain, and more insights on the first edition of Building Future featuring Morin Corp., Sto, Cosentino, panoramah!, Dri-Design, Graphisoft, Owens Corning, AkzoNobel, and C.R. Laurence.

• Listen on Spotify
• Listen on Google Podcasts

Kapsimalis Architects has published details of their proposed Vineyard House on the Greek island of Santorini. The design concept was for a main housing space under a roof of artificial earth, with a perimeter-free view of the landscape. To achieve this, a piece of land is elevated by 2.6 meters to form a living space below and progressively sculpted in the spirit of the natural erosion of volcanic rocks and caves.

+ 6

China seems to be at the peak of a refurbishment fever. Not only hutongs in historic downtowns, but abandoned industrial factories are becoming new tech or cultural hubs, and even buildings in the risk of collapse are refurbished to extend their lifespan. Why is this happening? Who is investing? How could this happen in a country where you cannot buy properties?

In this edition of Editor's Talk, our editors from ArchDaily China share their thoughts on how in a fast-paced development process, such as the one China is going through, there is a refurbishment fever in its biggest cities.

Benthem Crouwel Architects has been announced as the winner of a competition to design a new residential district in Prague, presented in collaboration with local firm RA15. The competition, organized by Penta Real Estate, saw 160 entries distilled down to 44, and then 5 finalists. In a unanimous verdict, the jury praised Benthem Crouwel’s decision to integrate a large, publically-accessible park into the project.

+ 4

Through their pioneering theory and provocative built work, husband and wife duo Robert Venturi (born June 25, 1925) and Denise Scott Brown (born October 3, 1931) were at the forefront of the postmodern movement, leading the charge in one of the most significant shifts in architecture of the 20th century by publishing seminal books such as Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture (authored by Robert Venturi alone) and Learning from Las Vegas (co-authored by Venturi, Scott Brown and Steven Izenour).

During the worldwide celebration of Olympic Day, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) inaugurated its new headquarters, Olympic House in Lausanne, Switzerland. Designed by Danish architecture firm 3XN, the project aims to bring together the IOC staff – 500 employees currently spread across Lausanne in four locations - under one roof at a single site. The new headquarters was made to further the mission of international cooperation, transparency and sustainability.

+ 9

When Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí (25 June 1852 – 10 June 1926) graduated from the Barcelona Architecture School in 1878, the director of the school Elies Rogent reportedly declared: "Gentlemen, we are here today either in the presence of a genius or a madman!" [1] Well over a century later, this tension is still evident in Gaudí's work; though he is widely regarded as a genius architect, his distinctive style stands as a singularity in architectural history—simultaneously awe-inspiring and bizarre, never fitting into any stylistic movement, and never adapted or emulated, except by those still working to complete his magnum opus, Barcelona's famous Sagrada Família.

+ 5

Etienne-Louis Boullée, though regarded as one of the most visionary and influential architects in French neoclassicism, saw none of his most extraordinary designs come to life. Throughout the late 1700s Boullée taught, theorized, and practiced architecture in a characteristic style consisting of geometric forms on an enormous scale, an excision of unnecessary ornamentation, and repetition of columns and other similar elements.

Istanbul-based SUPERSPACE has proposed a new concept for a pocketed timber observation tower in Zagreb, Croatia. Designed to be an iconic gate, the project would be sited between the old and new city. Called Ascension, the project takes inspiration from Zagreb's historical and natural iconic landmarks. Facing the south bank of River Sava, the tower's form is derived from the character of the old town's existing towers integrated with a new vertical forest.

+ 5

While the United States’ green-building industry was still relatively slow in the early 1990’s, Herman Miller, who are known for their architectural experimentation, decided to construct a new facility for Simple, Quick, Affordable (SQA), a company that bought used office furniture to refurbish them and sell them to smaller businesses. To do so, they chose to build sustainably, a design approach that was not yet utilized in the region.

Designed by New York architect William McDonough, the 295,000 sq ft building (approx. 90,000 sqm) was built in Holland, Michigan in 1995. The facility’s design qualities, such as storm-water management, air-filtering systems, and 66 skylights, helped set the standards for the U.S. Green Building Council LEED Certification.

Hey5 has unveiled its design for the National Museum of Finland, an entry for a recent international design competition. The scheme is titled “Suppa,” inspired by the typical Finnish landform where a hollow is created by the melting of buried blocks of glacial ice. The ambition behind the proposal was to create a bold object containing a flexible organizational system to host the museum's demanding international exhibitions.

+ 9

Thermal comfort becomes very evident when it is not attended to. When thermal conditions are adequate in one location, our body is in balance with the environment allowing us to perform activities normally. On the other hand, when a space is too hot or too cold, we soon see changes in our mood and body. Dissatisfaction with the thermal environment occurs when the heat balance is unstable, that is when there are differences between the heat produced by the body and the heat that the body loses to the environment.