The Women Bauhaus is a new art collective of five female artists led by mentor Sabine Marcelis, who are taking inspiration from the legacy of women in the Bauhaus movement. The project was commissioned by luxury skincare brand La Prairie as part of its ongoing patronage of the arts. The projects developed are taking inspiration from Bauhaus icons such as textile artists Otti Berger, Benita Koch-Otte, and sculptor, metalsmith, and designer Marianne Brandt. The initiative also hopes to bring attention to the often-overlooked legacy of women who joined the Bauhaus movement, and whose struggles to affirm themselves as artists and designers are rarely recognized.
Urban October is an initiative that was born with the aim of raising awareness, promoting participation, generating knowledge, and engaging the international community in creating a better urban future. Each year, UN-Habitat and its partners organize a month of activities, events, and debates around urban sustainability.
It’s About Time, the 10th edition of the RotterdamArchitecture Biennale, is a seven-week-long manifestation showing realistic courses toward a livable future at a time when the consequences of climate change are becoming increasingly apparent. Half a century ago, the consequences of climate change were predicted in The Limits of Growth report from 1972. This outlines the possible consequences of an exponential increase in population, agricultural production, and resource extraction. The report is viewed by many as the beginning of environmental awareness. The Rotterdam Architecture Biennale aims to bring these changes into perspective by looking both at the past and the possible future.
Snøhetta+Hassell were selected by competition to redesign Harbourside in Darling Harbour, Sydney. Expected to kick off in 2023, the 42-story residential tower and the 13500 square meters of public spaces will extend along the over 240 meters of water frontage within Sydney's iconic Darling Harbor area. Property developer Mirvac target to achieve 5 and 6 Star Green Star and WELL ratings, making the project one of Australia's most sustainable districts.
Architecture firms don’t usually make labor history, but it happened earlier this month when employees at Bernheimer Architecture agreed to form a union. It is a first for the industry and comes six months after an unsuccessful attempt to unionize at SHoP. The initiative was done through the auspices of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers in collaboration with Architectural Workers United (AWU), a grass-roots organizing group. Whether this leads to other successful efforts remains to be seen, but it is clearly a step forward for labor in the architecture sector. According to Curbed, AWU is “currently in talks with up to ten other firms across New York.”
The National PavilionUAE has announced the appointment of Faysal Tabbarah, Associate Dean and Associate Professor of Architecture at the American University of Sharjah, as the curator of UAE’s pavilion for the 18th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia in 2023. Tabbarah’s proposal for the exhibition focuses on the arid and dry landscapes of the UAE and their relationship with architecture. Through the research, these areas are reimagined as spaces of abundance and productivity. This approach represents Faysal Tabbarah’s response to the Venice Biennale 2023 theme: The Laboratory of the Future.
NASA and AI Space Factory developed LINA (Lunar Infrastructure Asset), an in-situ 3D-printed outpost to protect astronauts and critical missions on the Moon. The project is part of the Relevant Environment Additive Construction Technology (REACT), a multi-year collaboration to develop technologies for lunar surface constructions within the timeframe of the Artemis Mission: humankind’s return to the Moon. LINA is a step in the effort to expand civilization to Earth’s natural satellite and explore it in a sustainable way that minimizes human disturbance.
The Solo Houses project has just announced the incorporation of the Venta d'Aubert Winery in Crete, Spain, and the construction of a hotel designed by Chilean architect Smiljan Radic. Solo Hotel will become the centerpiece of the community and a catalyst for tourism and cultural activities around the project.
The Lusail Stadium, the largest stadium in Qatar and the centerpiece venue for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™, is now open to the public. On 9 September, the stadium hosted the Lusail Super Cup final between Al Hilal SFC and Zamalek, an event seen as the precursor to the FIFA World Cup Qatar that will be played later this year. Located in Lusail City, 15 kilometers north of Doha, the 80,000-seat stadium aims to create an immersive atmosphere for both players and spectators. The building was designed with Foster + Partners’ joint venture partner Arup, and sports specialist Populous.
Studio Gang's founder, Jeanne Gang, is the winner of the 2022 ULI Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development, the most prestigious and respected honor in the real estate, land use, and development community. From museums and skyscrapers, including the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts and the St. Regis Tower in Chicago, Gang has demonstrated her work in creating and implementing better practices in sustainable reuse, ecological biodiversity, and social equity. Gang, the first woman architect to get the prize for Visionaries in Urban Development, joins the ULI laureates list along with Alejandro Aravena, Richard Rogers, and Vincent Scully.
When war started in Ukraine, the faculty and students of the Kharkiv School of Architecture (KhSA) were forced to flee from their city. After three weeks of being scattered across Ukraine and Europe, they decided to reconvene in Ukraine and continue their work. The school relocated to Lviv, one of the safest cities in Ukraine, in order to restart their in-person education. Various platforms and institutions in Lviv, like the Lviv National Academy of Arts, are hosting the dislocated institution and providing continuous support. The KhSA is also looking for financial support to help keep the school open.
Designed by BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group and CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati, CapitaSpring is Singapore’s latest addition to its skyline. Recently completed after four years of construction, the 280-meter-tall high-rise oasis, considered among the city’s tallest structures, is a mixed-use high-rise with abundant sky gardens and rooftop park, office space, a serviced residence, a hawker center, restaurants, and public spaces.
The biophilic skyscraper, aligned with “the city’s pioneering vertical urbanism” and Singapore’s reputation as a garden city, is located at the heart of the financial district on the site of a former public car park and a hawker center. Comprising 80,000 plants, translating to a total landscaped area of more than 140% of its site area, the tower puts in place a “new green breathing space in the high-density CBD for the neighboring tenants and passersby”.
Scheduled to open in 2025, the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles’s Exposition Park, reveals the latest details in the construction and addition of artwork. The first of its kind, the Lucas Museum, founded by filmmaker George Lucas and his wife Mellody Hobson, will be devoted to all forms of visual storytelling, including painting, photography, sculpture, illustration, comic art, performance, and video. Designed by Ma Yansong of MAD Architects with Michael Siegel of Stantec, the five-story and 27900 square-meter building will feature a gallery space, two state-of-the-art theaters, and dedicated spaces for learning and engagement, dining, retail, and events.
Architecture offices OMA, led by Partner Shohei Shigematsu, and Jacobs have unveiled the design for the new headquarters for the Discovery Partners Institute, part of the University of Illinois System. The building is planned to anchor an innovation district at “The 78”, along the Chicago River. The eight-story building, located on a one-acre site southwest of the Loop, will provide more than 200,000 square feet of office, classroom, lab, and event space for DPI and its university and industry partners.
LetsBringLondonTogether. Image Courtesy of Yinka Ilori
PARABLES FOR HAPPINESS by the London-based British-Nigerian designer Yinka Ilori features for the first time at the Design Museum in London. Exhibited from September 25, 2022, to June 25, 2023, essential aspects of Ilori’s work will be placed beside key influences, including artworks, photographs, and furniture, to Nigerian textiles. Curated by Priya Khanchandani, the exhibition celebrates Ilori’s mix of cultural influences and unpacks the ingredients of a diasporic visual language.
Urban River Spaces, Jhenaidah. Image Courtesy of Aga Khan Award for Architecture
Aga Khan Award for Architecture (AKAA) announced the winners of the 2022 edition. From a pool of 463 projects nominated for the 15th Award Cycle (2020-2022), the six winners show examples of architectural excellence in the fields of contemporary design, social housing, community improvement and development, historic preservation, reuse and area conservation, as well as landscape design and improvement of the environment. Two projects from Bangladesh, one from Indonesia, Iran, Lebanon, and Senegal, will share the UDS 1 million award, one of the largest in architecture.
The fourth edition of the Timișoara Architecture Biennial, or Beta, is focusing on the theme of “the City as Common Good”. Through a wide range of events, Beta aims to address topics that are relevant and urgent globally and explore their impact on the local built environment and its response to the needs of the communities. Taking place at various locations in the city of Timișoara, Romania, this year’s festival begins on September 23rd and ends one month later, on October 23rd.
Inspired by the warm tones of harvested crops, Wild Wonder was selected as Color of the Year 2023 by AkzoNobel. Extensive research conducted by AkzoNobel, including color experts and international design professionals, identified the "Wonders of the Natural" swatch at the heart of global social and design. This trend is inspired by nature as people are re-evaluating their relationship with the environment as the source of everything in their lives. # d0c599, or pale yellow/ olive green, captures the moment's mood and conveys serenity and positivity after these recent years of uncertainty and despair.
The Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize (MCHAP) has selected Containing the Flood: Colosio Embankment Dam by Loreta Castro Reguera and José Pablo Ambrosi of Taller Capital as the winners of the 2022 MCHAP.emerge award. Acknowledging the best-built work in the Americas authored by a practice in its first ten years of operation, the 2022 MCHAP Prize for Emerging Practice (MCHAP.emerge) considered built works completed in the Americas between January 2018 to December 2021. Past MCHAP.emerge Laureates include Pezo von Ellrichshausen (2014), PRODUCTORA (2016), and Rozana Montiel Estudio de Arquitectura (2018).
Nevada's annual Burning Man has retured to the Black Rock Desert, after a three-year physical attendance hiatus due to the pandemic. From August 28 until September 5th, this year's festival explored the theme of "Walking Dreams", celebrating the dreamers who channel the power of dreams and imagination, both in literal and figurative ways. Similar to every year, the pavilions that were installed in the desert explored the theme in creative and unexpected ways.
This year, many of the installations approached themes of ecology and sustainability. Some of the installations were built with reused materials, including an interactive light sculpture made from plastic recovered from the ocean. Every year, the Burning Manfestival issues a number of grants, funded from revenues from ticket sales, for the purpose of partially funding specific art projects.
A developer in NYC purchased the first-ever non-fungible token (NFT) Office building in New York City. "Located" at 44 West 37th Street, the 4700 square meters NFT serves as an immutable digital asset that points to transforming how we design, build, operate, and monetize our spaces with only "one-click". The 16-story building was created by spatial intelligence company Integrated Projects and questions the function of architecture in Real Estate and the Metaverse.
The Chicago Architecture Biennial (CAB) has announced the art collective Floating Museum as the leading artistic team of CAB’s fifth edition, opening in September 2023. For this edition, titled “This is a Rehearsal”, the Biennial explores environmental, political, and economic issues present in today’s society, yet addressed differently around the world through art, architecture, infrastructure, and civic participation. The Floating Museum, a collective of artists, designers, poets, and educators, aims to push the CAB 5 exhibition and program model to prioritize presenting innovative ideas that could shape the future of architecture and design.
Today’s cities have been substantially reshaped to correspond with environmental and social needs or to reconstruct themselves after natural disasters or war. Whereas master plans and regulations take years, millions of people remain trapped in the crossfire and urgently need aid in their cities. With this pressing issue in mind, WZMH Architects developed a prefabricated- modular system for salvaging thousands of structures across Ukraine that have been partially or fully destroyed during the war. This system aims to integrate building technology into new buildings to create more sustainable communities.
