Snøhetta has been announced as the winner of a design competition for the renovation of the avant-gardist Théâtre Nanterre-Amandiers in Nanterre, France. The renovation seeks to breathe new life into the 1960s theater, known for its high-quality performances and global collaborations.
The renovations will include the addition of a 200-seat theater, and the reconfiguration of the building’s restaurant, bookshop, and atrium space, with an emphasis on flexibility and natural light.
For centuries, physical modeling has been a staple of architectural education and practice. Allowing the designer and client to explore a scheme in plan, elevation, and perspective all at once, the physical model aims to simulate the spatial relationship between volumes and to understand constructive systems.
Even in an age of ultra-high quality rendering, and virtual reality, physical material models represent a beloved, tried and tested method of conveying ideas both during the design process and at presentation stage. Whether through a rapid, five-minute volumetric test of paper models, or a carefully sculpted timber construction detail, careful choice of material can greatly assist the modeling process, allowing designers to remain abstract, or test physical properties of structural systems.
Tijuana is one of the most populated cities in Mexico. In 2000, the construction of collective housing boomed. This phenomenon completely transformed the limits of the city; the periphery exhibited a new appearance: a modernized future, new urban schemes, and a new lifestyle.
This week we’ve selected the best chapels previously published on our site. They reveal different ways of designing a small and sacred space. For inspiration on how to create these atmospheres, integrate different materials, and make proper use of light, we present 32 remarkable examples.
Medellin’s renaissance is one for architecture’s storybooks. After decades of mundane violence, the city today is not only (comparatively) peaceful but a world-class architectural hub. Indeed, many cite the city’s urban development as a factor in its rebirth. But Medellin’s success sometimes overshadows that of neighbouring (and capital) city, Bogota.
The contact between hands and models should never be lost. Going into this experience provokes silence, forcing us to think about the care that goes into concrete models. Few words are needed, as models often tell us everything we need to know through the beauty and simplicity that goes into their creation and the importance of the manual process in an architect's work.
Bogota's modernization between 1940 and 1970 is featured in a wide array of books, magazines, and photo albums, as well as in the city's own public and private archives. Every one of these sources reveals a deliberate, as well as critical, approximation of how modern architecture reconfigured the city's center and brought together the new buildings and urban space with the already existing cityscape.
When analyzing the impact of photography from the street, it's impossible not to talk about Leo Matiz, Armando Matiz, and Hernán Díaz. These three photographers have captured the personalities, events, and urban life of Bogotá. Here, we've compiled some of their most noted works featuring the streets, plazas, crosswalks, and landmarks of Bogotá. Through their photography, modern heritage finds a place on the stage of collective memory, where architecture and urban spaces are the stars.
In this edition of Bogotá in 10 photographs, we will come to know the legacy of Leo Matiz:
The “Bosco” design schematic utilizes timber construction and ecological design practices to create a multi-sided residential city block. Not only are the private domestic spaces important, but the definition of ‘living space’ is expanded to include private outdoor and shared spaces.
In this way, the wood exterior becomes an extension of the interior. The use of timber, throughout, and the simple language of Bosco’s underlying geometric forms create a well-articulated and homogeneous ensemble of housing components.
Cristopher Cichocki's Root Cycle combines installation art with existing architecture in an effort to spark a discussion regarding the relationship between design, both contemporary and historical, and environmental sustainability.
Cichocki partnered with Geoplast, a local Italian designer and manufacturer dedicated to producing innovative sustainable design products. The artist uses a particular Geoplast elevator product and Aloe Vera plants as the main components for the artwork.
It’s been a month since Brazil lost one of its oldest and most representative assets. A fire destroyed and erased more than 200 years of the Paço de São Cristóvão’s architectural history. The building served as a residence for the royal family, and turned a great part of its collection into dust, with many of the items being one-of-a-kind. The National Museum is seeking to rebuild in the aftermath of the tragedy.
Architecture is a profession deeply dependent on the visual. It’s imagined, sold, critiqued and consumed almost entirely on the strength (or lack thereof) of drawings. We pick and prod at images presented at angles we’ll never be able to see, admiring the architectonic qualities of elements we’ll never actually experience.
Wood is one of the oldest building materials used in architecture. Versatile, it can be used in structural solutions, coatings, partitions, fittings and, very often, in furniture. Another quality of the material is its sustainability - if well managed during planting, cutting, and treatment processes, it can be considered renewable and low carbon, adding value to the completed building.
Snøhetta has been selected to design the El Paso Children’s Museum in the city’s Downtown Arts District. The team proposed a vaulted museum lifted of the ground, a design made to preserve public space and an interactive garden below. Snøhetta was one of three finalists alongside Koning Eizenberg Architecture and TEN Arquitectos, each invited to submit concepts for the museum. The Children’s Museum aims to welcome and engage children and families from El Paso, Ciudad Juarez, the American southwest, and the Mexican states of Chihuahua and Sonora.
Toronto-based WZMH Architects has been recruited into Microsoft’s global Internet of Things (IoT) Insiders Labs, a program aimed at “transforming how people, devices, and data interact in every sphere of life.” The firm’s Intelligent Structural Panel (ISP) offers a “plug and play infrastructure” allowing a wide range of spaces and devices to be adapted, remotely-controlled, and optimized.
WZMH is the first architecture firm to be accepted into the program, which takes applications from organizations developing IoT and/or AI solutions.
Henning Larsen has completed their new campus for the French International School in Hong Kong, offering a “vibrant green oasis in the dense city.” The 1100-capacity school sits behind a kaleidoscopic façade laid across a grid of 727 multicolored tiles, offering a “vibrant sustainable environment supporting a world-class multicultural education.”
Located in the city’s Tseung Kwan O district, the 19,600-square-meter scheme comprises a series of large open plan spaces called Villas, each with 125 pupils in the same age group. The spaces are arranged around a central Agora, facilitating group activities and collaboration.
New York’s iconic Central Park was designed in 1858 by F.L Olmsted and C. Vaux, having been chosen in a competition against 32 other entries. The competition called for the design of a park including a parade ground, fountain, watchtower, skating arena, four cross streets, and room for an exhibition hall.
Of the 32 alternative entries, only one survives to this day. The sole survivor was drawn up park engineer John J. Rink. To give an indication as to how Rink’s plan would have aged in the Big Apple, NeoMam Studios and Budget Direct have published a set of visualizations derived from the design. Find out below what one of the world’s most iconic green spaces could have looked like if a 160-year-old decision had been different.
Due to the rising demand for housing, apartments around the world are becoming smaller and smaller. In addition, these plans for housing units do not always provide functional and comfortable living arrangements for its residents, challenging architects to think of ways to turn this situation into something desirable. Below, we've selected ten Brazilian projects that find creative solutions for small-scale housing.
Bamboo is an ancient building material that has been used in a variety of countries and building types. A sustainable material with a unique aesthetic, it is arguably one of the greatest architectural trends of the moment.
This material's structural and sustainable qualities demonstrate that bamboo can be three times more resistant than steel and grow about 4 feet (1.22 meter) in just one day.
Allford Hall Monaghan Morris Architects have released plans for a mixed-use shopping and office block to replace 1-2 Broadgate on the City of London campus. The multi-colored block design will include 74,000 square meters of commercial space as part of the revitalization of the iconic 1980s office complex. Linked to Liverpool Street station, the new development would include retail and leisure as part of the new shopping center.
Meis Architects have released new renderings of the FC Cincinnati soccer stadium in Ohio. After FC Cincinnati won their bid to become a Major League Soccer (MLS) team, the design was made to seat 26,500 people at a cost of $200 million. The stadium will be built with a retractable roof canopy and ETFE pillows that can be lit with the soccer club’s blue and orange colors.
The opening ceremony has taken place for the world’s largest performing arts center in Taiwan, designed by Mecanoo. The National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts comprises five state-of-the-art performance spaces under a single roof measuring 35 acres (140,000 square meters).
Opened on October 13th 2018, the scheme is set across a subtropical park in the southern Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung, occupying a former military training base to symbolize the city’s transition from a major international harbor into a rich, diverse, cultural hub, connecting local and international artistic talent.
.jpg?1539856634)
If the surest sign of summer in London is the appearance of a new pavilion in front of the Serpentine Gallery, then it’s perhaps fair to say that summer is over once the pavilion is taken down. The installations have gained prominence since its inaugural edition in 2000, acting as a kind of exclusive honor and indication of talent for those chosen to present; celebrated names from the past names include Zaha Hadid, Rem Koolhaas, and Olafur Eliasson.
The World Architecture Festival, with co-curators Make Architects and the Sir John Soane’s Museum, announced today the winners of their annual Architecture Drawing Prize, established in 2017 to recognize the “continuing importance of hand drawing, whilst also embracing the creative use of digitally produced renderings.”
Foster + Partners have revealed a design for an office building in Luxembourg. The new office development will be located in Belval, on the border of France and Luxembourg, and aims to help revitalize the area by making a positive contribution to the site and its surroundings. Designed for BESIX Real Estate Development, the project responds to the rich industrial heritage of Belval with co-working spaces and collaborative offices that address the changing nature of the workplace.
.jpg?1539856634)
