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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.

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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. 

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

The design for the tallest residential building in the world has been unveiled, situated in New York City. “Central Park Tower” by Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill architecture will stand at 1,550 feet (472 meters). The firm’s Jeddah tower in Saudi Arabia is also currently under construction, on track to be the world’s tallest tower.

Architecture startup AI SpaceFactory have revealed new images of their smart skyscraper projects. These next generation skyscrapers merge cutting-edge design with smart building technology developed in-house. The projects, ranging from twenty to fifty stories, are now in various stages of construction. AI SpaceFactory describes its buildings as living machines: physical, digital, and biological platforms which work together to enhance real-world experiences.

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Reddymade has been unveiled as the winner of the Valentine Heart Design Competition installation in Times Square, New York. The scheme is inspired by the “history of the iconic New York urban space and its presence in the eyes of the world as a byword for a thriving intersection of people, place, and culture.”

The winning team explored the tectonic possibilities of intersecting shapes, investigating what happens with two different planes intersect. The resulting sculpture created two converging planes merging together to create an iconic ‘X’ which, when intersected by a cylindrical volume, creates a heart-shaped space. 

Africa’s tallest skyscraper is set to begin construction in two weeks time. Designed by Spanish architects Rafael de la-Hoz Arquitectos and Moroccan firm CHB Cabinet Hakim Benjelloun, the 820-ft tall Bank of Africa Tower will take the title of tallest tower from the Carlton Centre in Johannesburg. Aiming for LEED Gold and HQE ratings, the tower will begin construction on November 1 and is expected be complete by May 30, 2022.

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Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects and Architectus have announced the opening of Tūranga, the new central library for Christchurch, New Zealand. Built to address the earthquakes that damaged Christchurch in 2010 and 2011, the library is one of the first public buildings to open downtown after the disasters. Working with Architectus and the indigenous Māori people of New Zealand’s South Island, the design was made to celebrate rebirth in Christchurch.

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The Basilica di Siponto by Edoardo Tresoldi has been awarded the “Gold Medal for Italian Architecture – Special Prize to Commission,” considered the most prestigious award in Italian architecture.

The wire mesh sculpture reinterprets the volumes of an Early Christian basilica which formerly sat on the site of the sculpture, adjacent to an existing Romanesque church. The scheme serves as a “bridge towards the memory of the place” allowing the public to contemplate time and history.

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Anna Liu and Mike Tonkin of London-based Tonkin Liu have developed an innovative medical device for use in patients’ windpipes. The prototype stent is based on the firm’s signature Shell Lace Structure, a “single-surface structural technology designed and developed through a decade of research for architectural and engineering applications.”

The 3D-printed prototype is 500 times smaller than those used by the firm for their architectural applications and was developed in collaboration with Arup and the Natural History Museum.

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This was originally posted on October 17, 2017.

When it's time to dress up for Halloween, Carnival or theme parties, people often choose costumes that resonate with their interests. This is especially true for architects, who are particularly well-suited to designing and building head-turning outfits. For students and young architects, the yearning to construct (and destruct) stems from the will to create elaborate headpieces and ingenious appendages.

Many contemporary design innovations have embraced the growth and expansion of new technologies. BREAKFAST, a Brooklyn-based rapid product and prototype company, has released ‘Brixel’ a product that combines the customizability technology can provide with the most fundamental building block of architecture - the brick.

The Brixel is an infinitely rotating brick controlled by a software app on your phone. The sleek design and variety of available shapes provide the designer or architect with the tools needed to create a 3-dimensional, interactive installation. Brixel’s design flexibility allows it to be used in many applications, such as dynamic wall installations, railings, facades, and sculpture. Andrew Zolty, BREAKFAST's Co-Founder and Head of Design described Brixel:

Sometimes a door can be a huge headache in a project. Think of a continuous, clean facade... having a door in the middle of it can ruin the clarity of the design. But a door need not be the traditional wood-paneled, brass-knobbed portal most of us are used to, much less an eyesore. 

But what if they could disappear from sight entirely? We’ve all dreamed of hidden passages and secret rooms tucked away in our homes. But for these to work, the entry must be disguised or hidden itself. 

Swiss practice Herzog & de Meuron have released revised plans for the Museum of the 20th Century project in Berlin's Cultural Forum. Designed to house the extensive National Gallery on 20th century art collection, the project was made in partnership with the Berlin State Museums and the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation. Herzog & de Meuron originally won the competition to design the museum building in 2016, and the revised design features new plans and a facade that opens the building to the outside.

Online shop Toffu has produced a stylish content library aimed at architects seeking to improve their Photoshop, Illustrator, or CAD drawings. Hosting a range of vector and cad format packs, the library's vibrant content is markedly different from standard black and white line figures.

The content is available in elevation, plan, and isometric format, featuring people, furniture, icons, vehicles, and vegetation. Check out the Toffu site here to explore their full content.